Sleep
by vividRegulator
Summary: Its been two months since Pitch was vanquished, and two months since Jack Frost has had any sleep. Plagued by nightmares every time he dozes off, Jack tries to keep himself awake but he's running out of time before his body shuts down forever. With the help of the guardians, Jack must face his fears before his nightmares kill him.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: this is my first time posting a fanfiction so im new at the whole fanfiction account thing**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter One

It's been two months since the guardians vanquished Pitch Black. Two months since the guardians said their goodbyes and went off in their separate ways, and two months since the guardian of fun has had any sleep. Jack Frost, a teenage, cheery, mischievous, naughty little immortal spirit of winter trudged tiredly in a snow covered forest.

He laid down next a tree covered in icy frost and balled up. Dark bags were under his sleep deprived eyes which was highly noticeable on his pale face.

Silver-blue eyes blinked rapidly as while the cold guardian rocked back and forward patting his face to stay awake.

"Don't fall asleep. Don't fall asleep. Stay awake."

Jack Frost wasn't going to sleep tonight anytime soon nope nope. He wasn't going to be attacked by nightmares and wake up screaming in a cold sweat. He certainly wasn't going to drift off and close his heavy eyelids nope; he would keep them open just as he'd been doing for the past two months.

Nobody knew of his nightmares except him and the boogeyman causing them. The Sandman didn't know, the Easter Bunny didn't know, the Tooth fairy didn't know, Santa Claus didn't know, Phil the yeti didn't know, no one.

When Jack had become a guardian everyone was so happy. They all had smiles on their faces and everyone was at peace. Jack did not want to spoil it for them by telling them he was being targeted in his slumber through his own mind. The guardians wouldn't believe him anyways. It should take Pitch at least two hundred years to reform, not one night.

Besides, he could handle this on his own.

Jack was powerful and independent. This was just an excuse he told himself so that he wouldn't admit his low self-esteem. After all, he was so very lonely for three hundred years. None of the guardians had told him anything that wasn't a scolding until MiM chose him to be a guardian. MiM didn't even talked to him other than when he was first resurrected.

MiM still wasn't talking to him.

That didn't matter at the moment. What did matter was that Jack's cloudy eyes were sagging now. Jack threw a snowball at his face to wake himself up.

"Stay awake do not go to sleep."

He repeated those words to himself. Jack looked up and saw the sun finally rise over the ice glazed mountains and he sighed. Another night without any sleep, and another night without a catastrophic nightmare. The last time Pitch attacked him was a few weeks ago when he had fell asleep in a tree. Jack wasn't going to let that happen again.

Jack grabbed his staff. Ever since Pitch had snapped it in half Jack made sure to never leave it behind. The winter spirit called upon the winds and rode them back to the frozen lake he called home.

As the wind blew the sleep deprived guardian back to where he came from Jack turned to face the frigid air rushing past his face. He was slowly descending upon the ice covered lake by the cool moving air.

"Thanks wind."

Jack rubbed his eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time since yesterday. Jack walked through the forest trying to clear his head. His usual stride was now a slow walking pace. As the guardian of fun strolled he passed a hunter's cabin. It's been there for a while and Jack usually looked in at the people living in there but not today, today he just ignored it and kept walking.

He stared up at the clouds trying to determine what they looked like. One cloud kind of looked like Bunnymund and another looked like Phil the yeti.

His gaze was so fixed upon the sky that he wasn't looking where he was going.

"Man I gotta fix this nightmare problem before-WOAH!"

Jack unknowingly stepped into a bear trapped and he zipped up hanging upside down by his ankle dropping his staff.

"Well this is just fantastic." He growled.

/

Jack's eyes were half closed. The rope around his ankle had frozen over so he was stuck like that for a while and his staff lay about two feet below him. There was only one way to get down, to cut the rope. That wasn't happening anytime soon.

"Hey wind any help?"

The wind swayed Jack back and forward.

"Okay okay I get it. I have to do this on my own."

If Jack wasn't so sluggish and tired he would have mumbled something under his breath. Instead he just yawned.

Jack weakly formed a snowball. It wasn't much of a ball, mostly just a clump of snow but he hasn't slept in two months a clump is all he's going to get.

He tiredly chucked the snow at the rope only to have it fall back down onto his face. The wind laughed as Jack muttered something North would disapprove of. When you don't sleep for a while, you get cranky. When you don't sleep for two months, well, that's a whole new ball field.

"Argh, this is so freakin stupid."

"Yes Jack, it is."

Jack's half closed eyes snapped open wide awake. He knew that voice. It was the voice that prevented him from sleeping. The weary look in Jack's eyes was replaced with surprise and fear.

"My my Jack, it seems you've gotten yourself in quite a predicament. " Pitch whispered into Jack's ear.

The winter spirit hung upside down powerless.

Jack tried punching Pitch but instead Pitch evaded it and Jack ended up just swayed.

"Oh what is this we have here?"

"Hey put that down!"

"If you want it then come get it oh wait, you can't."

Pitch was holding Jack's discarded staff as is owner glared daggers at him.

"I swear you better put down my staff."

"Why would I? This staff of yours is very important and powerful. Without it, you're just a little brat."

"Pitch I swear I'll-"

"You'll what? Hang from that tree some more like some blasted idiot? A real guardian wouldn't have been so careless."

Pitch snapped Jack's staff over his leg (again) and Jack yelped out in pain as if something inside him snapped as well.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: wow everyone thank you for following and reviewing my fanfiction! Plus one self-esteem.**

**Warning: there is some bloodshed in this chapter**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Two

Pitch threw the remains of Jack's staff on the ground. Jack was still caught in the hunter's trap and all he could do was watch his precious staff being thrown away by his greatest enemy.

"When I get down from here-"

Pitch scoffed at the helpless guardian.

"But you won't until that rope is cut. Lucky for you, I have a little fearling to help you with that."

Black sand swirled around until is form the shape of a large black bear. Its red eyes glared with Jack's sliver blueish eyes full of fear. Jack squirmed trying to untie the rope but the frost on it was melting and his fingers kept slipping. Pitch unleashed the bear and it roared with rage as it swung at Jack.

The winter spirit shielded his face with his right arm as claws like knives slit though his sleeve and skin. He gasped in pain and squeezed his eyes shut.

/

Jack yelped snapping open his eyes to find himself crouching by a tree. It was just a dream. He was panting and sweating with his head filled with adrenaline. Inches away his staff rested on the ground in one piece. There was no hunter's trap entangled around his ankle, no Pitch, no fearling, but on his right arm was a large red gash that went from his wrist to his mid shoulder with blood spewing from it.

His hoodie sleeve was shredded and stained with fresh blood. Every move of his arm caused a sharp pain to burst through his arm as if it was on fire.

Wounded and dizzy from all the blood he was losing, Jack groaned in pain and fell to his knees. He didn't notice little patches of black sand slowly seeping into the ground around him as the white snow turned a deep red.

The agony raging on in his arm kept Jack awake as he slowly trudged through the forest. He wrapped his hoodie around his arm to stop some of the bleeding. Its blue fabric turned to a dark brown and the frost had melted off.

Jack dragged his staff behind him. He moved through the forest for a few minutes before spotting the hunter's cabin he had passed hours ago. Getting close to the window, Jack looked inside to see no one inside. His weak breath formed frost on the glass but he ignored it and moved to the door. Nobody saw the wind blow open the wooden door and nobody saw it close.

There wasn't anyone around to hear someone rummaging through a medical kit, and nobody saw Jack tightly wrap bandages around his damaged limb.

/

Jack was now back at the frozen lake. The bleeding almost stopped completely but it still showed through a tiny bit. Knowing his hoodie was ruined, Jack buried it in the snow. He'd miss that hoodie. He's had it for a majority of his long and lonely life. Come to think of it, Jack doesn't remember where he got it in the first place.

Frowning, Jack moved his woozy and paler than usual body to a hidden log. He reached in with his good arm and pulled out a pieced of folded brown fabric. Jack unfolded it and slipped it on. It was the shawl he woke up in. Jack knew his shirt was stowed away somewhere else but he realized there was a green light shining over him.

"You have got to be kidding me."

How long has the Northern Lights been in the sky? Jack had completely forgotten the guardians where having a meeting today like they did every few months to checkup it on things that were happening. Before Jack was a guardian some of the meetings where about the trouble he caused. Jack knew this because he would eavesdrop on them sometimes until Phil threw him out.

Jack had skipped the last meeting so he had to go to the one today.

/

"I told you Frostbite wouldn't show up."

All of the guardians were gathered in North's workshop. They were supposed to start the meeting half an hour ago but they were still missing their youngest member, Jack Frost.

"I'm sure Jack has a good reason to being late this time." Tooth said. She was a bit annoyed Jack was late again but he wasn't usually this late. It was usually about ten minutes before he would come flying through the window but not this time.

Sandy formed images of Jack getting caught in a small storm above his head. "No he wouldn't be in a storm. Mother Nature makes sure to keep the skies clear when we met." North responded.

Bunnymund glanced at the clock tapping his foot impatiently.

"9:45 pm and Frostbite still hasn't shown his face."

Bunnymund had eggs to design and new eggs to paint but instead he was waiting for an immature teenager to waltz through the window.

/

Jack lazily rode the winds to North's workshop. Now he remembered why he abandoned his shawl. That thing was not good for flying in at all.

There was some frost on his bandaged arm and the hood on his shawl was pulled over his head.

Jack could see the light ahead of him and the guardians waiting inside for him. The lack of sleep made his vision a bit cloudy and he was drifting off until he slammed into the hard window grunting.

/

The four guardians jumped in surprise when Jack's body slammed against the closed window. "Ah I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry Jack.'" North apologized unlocking the window for Jack to enter through.

Jack flew back up and tried entering through the window again but he failed as he just bumped his head on the window sill. He shook his head as he finally flew through the large open window.

"Hey I'm here now. Sorry I'm late."

"Bout time you showed up mate."

Bunnymund rolled his eyes as Jack hastily made his way over to them. Jack hid his arm under his brown shawl and kept his gaze down so nobody would see his face. The guardian of fun blinked the returning sleep from his eyes trying to stay conscious.

North moved to the center of the room.

"So now that all of us are here, let's get to business."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: oh my gosh over 50 followers and over 20 favorites! asdsfdfgfsh I love all of you guys who review this so im going to update this again. I have the first six chapters written out and ive been typing them up on my laptop so I have half of the story planned out already. Anyway thanks everyone whos reviewing and if you have an idea for a chapter leave it in the comments and ill see if I can work it into the story. Anyway read and review please!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter 3

The meeting started about ten minutes ago. None of the guardians really cared about Jack's wardrobe change since they just wanted to start the meeting and get back to work.

The sleep deprive guardian yawned he was so bored and North had been talking the entire time. He forgot what North was talking about since he kind of zoned out but he never paid attention anyway. Jack looked at the other guardians through his tired eyes. They were all napping through North's lecture and didn't know the guardian of fun was glaring at them enviously. None of them were being tormented by nightmares and none of them were waking up in a cold sweat screaming. They didn't have to worry about closing their eyes and they didn't have to worry about Pitch invading their dreams.

They don't know how lucky they are.

Jack longed for sleep but if he did he might die from his nightmares. The bags under his eyes grew darker within each night and they were drooping as the winter spirit leaned on his staff.

He was too light headed and sleepy to think of something to distract his sluggish mind. Jack froze a few elves dancing on the ground like idiots for no reason. Frost was growing on the ground but Jack didn't care. He just let it go unnoticed without bothering to think about someone slipping on it. Jack pulled his hood up more and tucked his bandaged arm under his shawl some more so no one would even see the bandages.

Jack's eyelids were getting heavier and heavier. He tried to resist closing them but the urge was to strong. They were partly open when Jack smacked his face as hard as he could, hard enough for North to stop talking and awake the other guardians.

"Jack?" North seemed a little concerned about Jack. He was unusually quiet and disciplined today. Jack looked up at North and ignored the stinging sensation is his face.

"What?"

"You seem a little off today. Is there something wrong?"

"Nah I'm totally fine I don't see why you would think there's something wrong with me."

Even though he obscured his face from any of them, Jack planted fake smile on his face wishing that the lies he told were true. He averted his gaze from everyone gathered around him nervously.

Tooth flew over to him with her eyes full of concern as if Jack was her sick child.

"Are you sure Jack? You look paler than usual and you've been awfully quiet and inactive."

"I already told all of you I'm fine. There's nothing the matter with me just calm yourselves."

Jack was starting to get cranky from not sleeping for the past two months and he was a tad bit annoyed at the moment.

Bunnymund hopped over to Jack.

"Oh yeah? Well tell me this Frostbite, if you're all fine and dandy then why show up banging the window instead of flying through the one already open?"

Bunnymund pointed to the open window that Jack usually entered through. Jack looked over and mentally face palmed. He didn't notice the open window when coming to the workshop.

"Well, uh, it was dark and I was rushing-"

"From what? What's your excuse for being so late this time? And don't think you can use Jamie as an excuse again."

"I was just late and you should mind your own business because all of you think there's something up with me when there isn't."

"Then take off your hood."

"No its fine where it is."

"Then why is it there in the first place?"

Jack's grip around his staff tensed.

"Because it's bright in here."

The other guardians stared at Jack not believing a word he was saying. His excuses and lies were better than this, but now they were pretty stupid.

Bunnymund scoffed and he nudged Jack who seemed like he was zoning out. Jack winced as Bunnymund's paw made contact with his right arm. Sandy noticed Jack's reaction and made an exclamation point over his head but he went unnoticed as everyone's attention was focused on Jack.

"Bunny has a point Jack, it does seem odd that you have been keeping your hood on in here and the lights are shining normally." North stated. Tooth flew around Jack looking at everything from his hand around his staff.

"You also seem a bit uncoordinated and you've been hiding a lot of your appearance from us ever since you came in."

Jack grew anxious the more the guardians talked. His heart was beating like a drum and he could feel moisture seeping from his right arm.

"Why are you so jumpy mate?"

"You seem tired."

"Are you getting enough sleep?"

"Just tell us what's wrong."

Sandy was in the background going unnoticed and creating all sorts of images above his head signaling to give Jack some space but no one even saw them. Sandy would have shaken an elf but they were all frozen to the floor.

As much as all the loud noise and panic was keeping Jack awake, all this nagging was really annoying and getting on his nerves.

The winter spirit couldn't take it anymore and grabbed his staff slamming the butt down on the floor creating a gust of frosty cold air blowing everyone back.

Tooth gasped as she covered her mouth with her hands while everyone else was speechless. Jack held out his staff in his right arm, blood trickling onto the floor as his dark bags under his eyes were revealed.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: wow everyone theres only been three chapter so far and I didn't expect everyone to like it so much and just asdfghgjfh Thank you to everyone who has favorited/reviewed/followed this story 3**

**(I apologize for any grammar typos) and without further ado, I give you chapter 4 of Sleep**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter 4

"What are all of you staring at?"

Jack stood in the center of the room. His outburst revealed himself to the guardians and everyone was silent. Their eyes were fixed upon the dark bags on Jack's paler than usual face which made it look as if he had two black eyes while the bleeding in his right arm had returned and began dripping through the sloppily wrapped bandages.

All of the sleep deprivation had slowed down Jack's reaction system since it took him about ten seconds to realize what he had just done.

He quickly turned away pulling his hood over and clutching his right arm while sticky red blood crept down his elbow and to his wrist.

Bunnymund was the first to break the silence.

"Blimey Jack. What the hell happened?"

Even though Jack was a huge pain in the arse for Bunnymund, he still cared about him.

"I-It's nothing."

Jack stuttered over his words. His head was racing with thoughts. Should he abscond and go hide? Should he tell them? Should he just shrug them off as if nothing ever happened?

"Why didn't you tell us Jack?" questioned North with worry. Tooth flew in closer around Jack who took a step back.

"Jack stop fidgeting."

"No I'm fine!"

"Have you seen yourself lately?"

"Yes I look normal."

"You can drop the act stop pretending."

"Who's pretending?"

"You are!"

"Look, I never asked you to invade my personal space."

"Stop acting so stubborn and-"

Tooth began chasing Jack around the room like a child. All this tension and sudden movement was making Jack's wound bleed more. He was flying all around the room with Tooth at his heels. "Alright I've had just enough of this. Sandy knock him out." Bunnymund said getting annoyed.

"No Sandy don't you dare!"

North grabbed Jack's shawl.

"Do it now Sandy!"

A golden ball of sand formed in the palm of Sandy's hand. He chucked it but Jack squirmed out of his shawl and the sand just hit the wall. North now held Jack's empty shawl while Jack was starting to become dizzy. He didn't make two steps before collapsing to the carpet. Before he could get up Sandy sprinkled dream sand on Jack's head.

The veteran guardians crowded around Jack as he drifted off into sleep.

/

Jack woke up to someone shake his arm.

"Jack come on wake up! You said you'd take me ice skating!"

"No I'm sleeping."

"But you promised you would take me ice skating like you do every Christmas!"

Jack slowly opened his eyes and yawned. Standing by his wooden bed was a small girl bouncing up and down acting very excited. She looked about eight years old with long brown hair that complimented the brown dress she wore. On her feet were ice skates and she wore a big grin on her face.

"What?"

"Remember? We've been planning this since last year!"

Jack paused for a few seconds.

"Oh yeah. Sorry Pippa I forgot."

Pippa pulled Jack out of his comfy bed by his arm.

"We have to get there before everyone else does!"

Jack's younger sister pulled him through the house. She and Jack ran past their mom in the kitchen.

"Bye mom! Jack's taking me skating on the pond and we'll be back later."

"Be careful the ice might be-"

Pippa pulled her brother outside before he could hear what their mom said.

The siblings ran through the snow covered forest. The sun was peeking over the mountains and shone directly above the lake. Jack touched the ice with his bare foot.

"I dunno Pippa, this ice seems kind of-"

"It's fine Jack!"

The young girl ran onto the ice smiling before Jack could stop her.

She skated around the lake doing various spins and figure eights. Her older brother stood on the lake's edge smiling. Everything was so calm and peaceful.

/

The other guardians were gathered around Jack's bed. He was sleeping in the infirmary with his right arm in a sling. The dream sand above his head formed a small girl ice skating on a lake while Jack watched her.

"I don't understand, the bloke seems fine." Bunnymund said. It was true. Jack looked so happy and at ease in his sleep.

"The problem is probably his dreams." North said. Sandy made a thumbs up at Jack's dreams which meant they were fine. Tooth watched over Jack.

"He seems to be enjoying himself in his sleep. He could just be over working himself."

The other guardians left the room to talk more and shut the door quietly not seeing Jack's dream sand turn black.

/

"Jack I'm scared."

"Don't worry you'll be alright I promise."

"No I won't Jack."

Pippa was standing on the ice crying. There were cracks under her feet and they were spreading. Jack was standing on the thicker and more frozen part of the lake. His feet went numb from the ice but he continued to move forward holding a tree branch.

"Just grab the branch and I'll pull you to safety,"

"No you're gonna drop me,"

"I'm not going to tick you-"

"Yes you will you always play tricks!"

"No I won't I promise you'll be okay."

Within each step Jack made nervously another crack formed on the ice as Pippa sobbed some more.

"It'll be just like one of our games. Just jump to safety. One,"

Jack hopped to his right forming a large crack.

"Two,"

He made another jump.

"Three."

Jack jumped onto the safe edge of the frozen lake. He turned to his younger sister in distress telling her it was her turn.

"Come on Pippa, you can do it I believe in you."

Pippa hesitated.

"One,"

She jumped forward and another crack formed beneath her.

"Two,"

Jack extended the branch to her.

"Three!"

Pippa leapt and grabbed the branch as Jack used his weight to swing her around onto the lake edge and away from the thin ice. Jack slid backwards as his younger sister landed.

"See, I told you-"

"Jack!"

The older boy fell through the thin ice and into the freezing cold water and all Pippa could do was watch helplessly.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: asdafafgsdh I never expected for this to get so many reviews and all of you super awesome people are reading and reviewing while im here just asdfgdf **

**Just a quick question, do you guys think the chapters are a little short or are they a good length? Each chapter is about somewhere near 1,100 words**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Five

Jack thrashed in the frigid water as he floated further down. He tried screaming for help but all that came out was bubbles and all that came in was cold water.

/

The guardians went to check up on Jack before they left. "So do you think he's sleeping alright?" Tooth asked. Sandy nodded and gave thumbs up. Last time he checked on Jack's dream he was smiling while watching a girl ice skate.

North opened the door and they gasped as they walked in on Jack thrashing in his bed while coughing up icy cold water.

/

The icy water had made Jack's entire body go numb. His lungs burned for air and his head became light but Jack still sank into the dark water. If he didn't drown, then the water would freeze him to death.

Jack knew there was no hope for him, he was going to die. That's okay. He saved his little sister, and that's all that mattered.

Before he died, Jackson Overland Frost looked up at the hole he fell through-wait, is that a figure? Jack looked closer and saw oh no, no no no no this is wrong. She's supposed to be safe on the ice and Jack was supposed to die and become a winter spirit no no no Pippa can't even swim. What if she drowns with her brother? Jack tried to yell at her to go back but instead he just let in more water.

/

"Sandy do something!" yelled Tooth. Jack was sputtering and coughing up copious amounts of water while his tired eyes were squeezed tight. His body was frigid and he was flailing his limbs and it looked as if he was trying to scream but more water and ice just poured out. He tossed and he turned and the bleeding was in his arm was back but it went unnoticed.

"Wake up Jack!" screamed North trying to shake Jack but it failed. Sandy tossed golden dream over Jack but it just turned black and swarmed around Jack's mind. "Knock it off with the sand mate." Ordered Bunnymund. They had to stop this before it went any further.

/

Pippa did her best to reach Jack. He was supposed to teach her how to swim in the spring but her biggest priority was to get to her drowning brother.

Her numb fingers brushed against Jack's numb arm. Jack focused his blurring vision on Pippa. She was dead. Her lips turned blue and her usual energetic and bubbly personality was gone, and it was all his fault.

Older brothers are supposed to protect their younger sister and keep them out of harm, not fall through thin ice and make them come after you and freeze to death.

/

The numb body of Jack Frost lay still as a rock in his bed. Bunnymund pressed on Jack's limp body.

"C'mon mate stay with us!"

Tooth's eyes began to water. Jack's body suddenly started to twitch. He started to hack up water while violently coughing. North hit Jack's back and he expelled what looked like a gallon of water. Sandy sighed in relief that Jack woke up.

The guardian of fun snapped open his eyes gasping for air and panting. Bunnymund rubbed his back.

"It's alright mate. The nightmare's over."

"I-I killed her."

Tears made their way in the corners of Jack's eyes as he curled up his wet body into a ball sobbing.

"She's d-dead. I c-couldn't save her."

His voice was a little over a whisper but the guardians could still hear him. Tooth hugged Jack.

"It was just a dream nothing happened."

"But-"

"You never killed anyone. It was just and only a dream Jack. Your nightmare was tampering with your memories."

Jack realized where he was once his nerves calmed down. He sat in a bed that had become damp from all the water he chucked up and his bloody right arm hung from his neck in a sling. His wooden staff was propped up against the bed frame and the guardians surrounded him each with an anxious look on their faces.

"How are you feeling Jack?" North asked him. Jack was still getting over his shock induced nightmare.

"I'm uh, fine."

Bunnymund hopped closer to Jack.

"Listen up Frostbite, drop the act we all know there's something up with ya. What just happened wasn't your typical nightmare."

"I don't take orders from you Kangaroo ."

North cut in between them.

"Now listen Jack, its best for you if you tell us what's happening so that we can work out a way to stop it."

The young guardian hung his head and muttered something. Sandy created a picture of a megaphone over his head and a question mark indicating that Jack had to speak up. Jack repeated what he said but still they could barely hear him. "We can't hear you Jack can you speak up?" Tooth questioned.

Jack sucked in some air.

"I said Pitch is back okay?"

The spike in his voice made the temperature in the room drop five degrees.

/

Everyone went silent for a few seconds. "Pitch? But he's gone and it would take years for him to reform." North said. "Are you sure?"

Jack turned to North giving him an 'are you freakin kidding me' look.

"Of course I'm sure! Like Kangaroo said, these aren't normal nightmares. Regular nightmares don't try to kill you every time you shut your eyes or slash at you or try to drown you. Don't you feel anything in your belly or something?"

A tiny blizzard raged on inside that shot frost at everyone. Tooth wrapper her arms around Jack who winced slightly when she touched his arm.

"We're sorry Jack. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Well for one thing you wouldn't believe me like you are right now."

Jack broke away from her hug.

"Listen Jack, you're one of us now, and you should know that we're always here for you-"

"Here for me? The only reason any of you even talk to me was because I was chosen to be a guardian. Where the heck were you for the past three hundred years? You've all had each other all laughing it up together and not once had any of you even said 'hi'. It's always me being yelled at for doing my job."

Jack had shocked everyone.

"Jack-" North stopped mid-sentence.

He was right. They did ignore him for a majority of his life. They made him feel used instead of welcomed, and they were never there for him until now. If they had become friends with Jack sooner maybe he would be different. Maybe this wouldn't be happening. Nobody had taught the winter spirit how to control his emotions or his powers, no one told him what was right and what was wrong.

For three hundred years, the only thing Jack had was himself.

/

A/N: I actually don't think that jacks sister dove down trying to save him. I only wrote that part because it was art of jacks nightmare because it was tampering with his early memories. So anyway I hope you liked this chapter and please review :)


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: keep those reviews coming everyone! Also some updates may be little slow since schools getting a little hectic and ive been feeling pretty down lately but knowing there are people out there who like my writing helps.**

**I apologize for any typos**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Six

"Tooth, Bunny, Sandy, I need to talk to Jack privately." North announced in his thick Russian accent. Knowing they couldn't argue with him, the guardians reluctantly walked through the door and closed it. Jack watched North sit on the opposite of the bed he was sitting in.

"I know you're upset Jack, and you have every right to lash out at us. It's true that you were alone for quite a long time and we never paid much attention to you-"

"I really don't see how this is supposed to make me feel better."

"The point is, that was the past and none of us can do anything about it. What we can change is the future. You're a guardian now Jack, you've found what was so special inside and you're family now. Even though we may seem too busy for you, that doesn't mean we don't care about you as much as we do for the children of the world. You shouldn't let your opinions hide away all your problems because they'll only get worse."

Jack stared at the ground a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed. He wished he was a turtle right now so that he could go inside his shell but instead he just avoided any eye contact with North feeling stupid.

"I'm sorry North,"

"There's no need for you to be sorry Jack. Now tell me, what exactly has been happening to you?"

Jack huffed before sighing deeply.

He told North everything. That t all started the night he became a guardian, about the horrible nightmares that plague his dreams, how those nightmares prevented him from sleeping for days, and how those days without sleep turned into weeks. Weeks turned to months, and for those two months, all those weeks, all those days, he hasn't been able to close his eyes for two seconds before facing a brutal and murderous nightmare.

/

Tooth, Sandy, and Bunnymund were all pressing their ears to the door. They did what North had told them to, they left the room. He never told them they couldn't eavesdrop. "What's he saying Bunny?" Tooth asked.

"He's sayin Pitch has been attacking him in his sleep."

"But Pitch is gone, how can he be doing that?"

"Jack's afraid of something, "

Bunnmund leaned in closer.

"All that fear has been giving Pitch power."

"What's he afraid of? He's not alone anymore and there are people who believe in him now."

"I dunno, but it must be one heck of a problem if its giving Pitch so much power."

Sandy sat on the floor resting his head on his little arms. No wonder he hasn't been seeing any golden dolphins and no wonder Jack was always yawing and rubbing his eyes.

/

North's talk with Jack ended in about seven minutes. The guardian of wonder got up to open the door only to have everyone else leaning against it to topple forward in a heap. Jack snickered at them. Odd, he hasn't laughed for such a long time, the feeling felt alien to the guardian of fun.

"Having fun there?" North teased heartily chuckling. Tooth blushed as they awkwardly got up. "Feelin any better Frostbite?" Bunnymund asked walking over to where Jack sat.

"I was alright before Kangaroo,"

"No need to lie mate we heard it all."

Jack slightly blushed. "You'll be alright Jack," Tooth said patting him on the back. "We'll help you get through this." The guardian of fun faked a smile. He looked so pitiful smiling like that. Dark bags hung from the bottom of his eyes while his right arm hung from his neck all wrapped up.

Sandy started to jump up and down with a siren above his head. All eyes were on him. "What is Sandy?" North asked. The guardian of dreams rapidly made a variety of images.

"Woah woah woah mate slow down." Bunnymund said. Sandy sighed and repeated his actions but everyone still stared at him dumbfounded. Tooth tilted her head trying to put together what Sandy was saying while Jack just nodded pretending he knew what was going on. Sandy face palmed and wrote in the air in golden cursive letters:

'Jack, because of your lack of sleep your body will eventually stop being able to tell whether you are awake or not. This means you may start dreaming when you're awake and you won't be able to tell the difference. Your body will eventually shut down and go to sleep forever. If you were a normal human you would have been dead already but because you're a magical being you still have some time left. We have to stop Pitch before your body shuts down and you become lost in nightmares forever.'

As the sandman finished writing his letters it was followed by dead silence. Jack's eyes were wide open in shock. If he slept he was in danger and now if he was awake he was also in danger. What's he supposed to do? Jack mentally face palmed knowing he wasted two months instead of just telling someone and now his time is running out. The young guardian was now lying in bed with his head full of thoughts.

The hazy spirit suddenly shot up from his bed and tried to get out but he woozily sat back down. "Easy Jack you've been resting for a long time. You can't just get back on your feet so fast." North told him.

"Well I can't just lie here what am I supposed to do? Either way I'm losing to Pitch and we don't have an idea how to stop him."

Sandy made a calendar above his head and a scary face. It indicated that Jack only had about twenty more days before his body went to sleep for good. Then Sandy formed images of Jack being afraid and Pitch getting stronger. Jack became nervous again and he fumbled with his white bed sheets. "He's saying your fear of something is making Pitch stronger." Tooth translated.

"So what is it Frostbite? What's been eatin at ya?'

"Bunny you can't just rush him into this!"

"Relax Tooth the sooner he tells us the faster we'll be to find a way to stop all this madness."

Jack stayed silent. North looked and him. "Bunny does seem to have a point Jack," The guardian of fun mumbled something under his breath. Sandy made a question mark above his head not understanding or hearing what Jack said.

They were starting to grow a bit impatient. All of them spent about ten minutes trying to get Jack to confess.

"I'd rather not tell."

Jack was acting very anxious but also sheepish. The guardians figured he'd been through enough today and they weren't about to force the young spirit to tell them his worst fear.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: hey everyone! Just a heads up I went and fixed some typos in the previous chapters and I apologize if there are some in this chapter since I cant see all of them. So thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favorite/followed this :) I also made my jack frost staff and you can see it here ** . /tumblr_me1pa5iSSc1rqmqzco1_

**So anyway heres chapter 7 and it's a little longer than the others but please leave a comment on what you think :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter 7

Dawn of the first day, 19 days remain.

It was about seven am; Jack had had his nightmare an hour ago. The guardians had left to do their jobs but Sandy was in the infirmary watching over the white haired spirit resting. Well, Jack wasn't actually resting. He just had his covers pulled over him pretending to be sleeping. The dark bags under his eyes were even darker now from all the stress and they were nearly black.

Jack almost had a heart attack when Sandy suddenly tapped his shoulder.

Sandy formed an image of Jack sleeping motioning that Jack had to at least shut his drowsy eyes. He then told Jack he would monitor his dreams and would help him if Pitch invaded them. Jack only shook his head.

"No Sandy, I don't think your dream sand can help."

Sandy did not like seeing Jack like this one bit. The guardian of fun who was mischievous and played jokes with an energetic grin on his face and held the record on the naughty list, was just sulking in a bed with a pale and sorrowful face.

Jack fumbled as he shifted in bed. His eyes were peeled open. He could have worn he saw a shadow move in the corner of his eye. Jack's eyes widened as the shadow grew larger behind Sandy.

"Sandy duck!"

Jack sprung to his feet grabbing his staff and shot ice at the shadow. Staying alert Jack scoped out the room looking for any more suspicious shadows. Sandy had said something about his body being affected by the lack of sleep, but Jack knew for a fact he was awake.

The sandman raised an eyebrow watching Jack stand in the middle of the room pointing his staff at nothing. He knew Jack's mind was going to start playing tricks on him, but he didn't think it would start so fast.

Jack saw another shadow in the corner of his eye take the form of a being.

"Don't bother trying to do anything little Jackie boy, your sandy friend just thinks you're delirious."

"I don't care what he thinks as long as I stop you!"

A blast of ice shot from the tip of Jack's staff and Pitch jumped over it reacting to it by shooting an arrow of nightmare sand at Jack. The teen rolled out of the way but flinched when his wounded arm touched the floor.

"We both know that there will always be fear Jack, and we both know that yours will always be the most tragic."

Pitch tapped on Jack's chest where his heart would be. The three hundred year old spirit hovered back from the dark boogeyman who was getting a bit too close for comfort. Grinning and glaring daggers at Jack, Pitch formed a long black sword from his sand and lunged at him.

Jack held his staff horizontally as Pitch pressed down the flat edge of his sword on it.

"A little help here would be nice Sandy…" he called out.

Even though Jack was old, he wasn't that strong, and he could only use one of his arms at the moment. Jack leaped out of the way as Pitch brought down the blade again.

/

Sandy watched as Jack flew about the room swinging his staff and shooting frost at the air. The short little guardian flew over and sprinkled dream sand over Jack's head and tried to shaking him awake but it was no use. By the looks of Jack's actions it seemed like he was dueling another figure but Sandy couldn't tell clearly.

/

Jack had his back pressed against the wall. Pitch was enclosing on him and Jack flew up to the rafters. He was followed by Pitch who thrust himself upward with sand.

"You might as well give up Jack, all of your fancy footwork won't last."

He was right. Jack was starting to grow tired and his headache was returning. He never did make up for all that blood he had lost when his arm was slashed.

In the midst of his thoughts Pitch had slammed a knife down in Jack's wooden staffed. Taking it by surprise, Jack let out a cool breath freezing the air in front of him and smacking it towards Pitch. Once again, Pitch evaded the gesture but was knocked off his feet when Jack swung his staff at his head using his left arm.

He moved in for another attack but the Pitch lying on the ground evaporated and Jack took a blow to his lower back pushing him forward and onto the hard wood floor. Slowly getting up, Jack turned and was slugged in the face by Pitch.

/

Sandy could only watch as his friend was losing to an enemy he couldn't see but it was most likely Pitch Black. He felt so helpless not being able to assist Jack or even help wake him up. If he left to get North Jack might get hurt again but if he didn't Jack might be defeated.

/

Jack grunted as a fearling rammed him in the stomach. Pitch had made two fearlings a few second ago and now they were chasing Jack around the room. He flew up and stood on the rafters heart pounding so hard it felt as if it would pop out. Each fearling came at his from opposite directions and Jack jumped off the rafter letting them collide with each other and disperse into sand.

His vision was getting a bit blurry and Jack's breathing was heavy but at least his arm wasn't bleeding.

"My, my, you don't look so good Jack, could it be you are getting tired or were you always this weak?"

"I'm just getting started."

Pitch's attempt to discourage Jack failed but he hardly even cared. With a snap of his fingers more fearlings assembled around them and piled onto Jack.

/

Sandy had two options, try to help Jack or go get North. He decided to try helping jack who looked like he was being compressed by something and Sandy inferred it was fearlings. Sprinkling more sand over the winter spirit, he tried to snap Jack out of it.

He had heard every word that came from Jack's mouth ever since he started seeing things. "I won't let you win that easily!" screeched the boy. A medium sized flurry exploded around Jack freeing him and causing Sandy to stumble back from the winds. North burst through the door finally hearing all of the commotion being made.

"Sandy what's happening why didn't you tell me this was happening?"

Sandy made images above his head explaining Jack's body had already begun not being able to tell whether it was asleep or not.

/

The blast had hurled Pitch to the wall. He wasn't expecting this to happen, he was just trying to stall Jack and waste his limited time, not make him go berserk. In the chaos being caused by the guardian Pitch vanished into the shadows.

"YOU COWARD GET BACK HERE AND FACE ME!"

With a determined looked on his face, Jack tried freezing the shadow Pitch had vanished into but he failed and only covered the floor with a thin layer of clear ice. Jack raged on losing control over his powers. His usually calm eyes were now glowing a white light and snow howled through the room. The lights were blown out by the screeching wind and frost began to cover the windows.

North and Sandy gripped on the beds as the storm raged on. "We need to stop him before he tears apart the workshop!" North bellowed over the moaning winds. They seemed to go unnoticed by Jack who was unknowingly causing destruction.

Medicine bottles broke open and spilled onto the floor as beds were being over turned. The doors were frozen shut but snow from outside smashed through the windows and began blowing around the room. It was so cold that Sandy and North could see their breathe.

Sandy flew up and grasped Jack's left arm holding his staff. He was colder than usual, in fact if Sandy had flesh it would have been frostbitten by now but instead some of his sand on his fingertips were beginning to freeze over. Jack turned and his shining white eyee met with Sandy's. He saw Sandy's eyes full of fear, fear for him.

Suddenly coming back, Jack became aware of his surroundings. He could hear North's Russian voice shouting trying to calm him down and he could see the snowstorm beginning to tear up the walls. His eyes returned to their silverish blue color as he fell to the ground.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: so here I am again with another chapter and I got a question for everyone, how long do you all of you want this story to be? Right now im planning **_**at least**_** twenty chapters but I don't want to make it too long or too short and im already planning a sequel.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Eight

Bunnymund hopped out of his rabbit hole.

"Blimey how cold does Frostbite need it to make it? I can hardly feel my paws." he muttered. Bunnymund was in the forest outside Burgess and near the lake that Jack called 'home' when it was frozen during the winter and sometimes the fall.

A thin sheet of white snow was spread on the ground in splotches and glistened under the sun. It looked so, plain. There weren't many colors besides the white snow, brown trees, and the clear icy frost. It looked kinda drab without all the bright colors Bunny was used to, but didn't matter at the moment. He was here for a reason.

He trekked through the snow covered forest with frigid air nipping at his nose. How does Jack tolerate this? Bunnymund had to check his paws and feet to make sure they hadn't frozen off while his ears were probably frozen off and he had a coat of fur all over his body but Jack walked through snow and blizzards while skated on ice barefoot with short thin pants and a hoodie.

Reaching his destination, he stopped. Bunnymund stood at the frozen solid lake. There were some hollow logs and a pile of snow next to them. Better start there first. Slightly shivering, the guardian of hope looked through the logs. The only thing there was an old shirt that looked like it was made during the colonial time. How had that even survived out here for so long?

Regretting what he was about, Bunnymund started digging through the snow. He'd have to thaw them out near a fire place later but he eased up when he found what he was looking for.

Jack's hoodie.

The right sleeve was shredded and dry brown blood stains painted the blue fabric so much that you could hardly tell it was supposed to be blue. Bunnymund expected the ruined article of clothing more and held it closer. It was so, small. It was actually kind of cute being so little and it actually looked like it was made for a girl's torso rather than a males. Tucking away Jack's mangled hoodie; Bunnymund tapped the ground and jumped down his rabbit hole.

He had to take it to North's workshop so that what was left could be copied.

/

North ran over to Jack and scooped him up in his arms. He felt lighter than usual, and weak. His breathing was normal but there was barley any color in his face while his skin was freezing cold. Jack's dark eyelids slowly fluttered open and he jolted up gasping for air.

"N-North? What happe-ened?"

"You were dreaming Jack, but it's alright now."

North embraced Jack in a light hug. Jack flinched as North's arm wrapped around the large bruise on his back from where he was hit but when North let go Jack dropped his staff at the catastrophe in front of him.

The windows were shattered while beds were flipped over and scattered across the room like dollhouse furniture. Half of the room was buried inch deep in snow that had turned different colors from having medicine bottles drop on them and there was broken glass littering the cracked wooden floor. It was dark from having all the lights and lamps blow out while some of the wooden beams above them were splintered. Jack could even see his cold breathe coming out of his mouth. North's infirmary was like this because of him.

Jack's guilty face turned to Sandy and North.

"What did I do?"

Sandy made notions that this wasn't Jack's fault. No one had taught him how to control his powers and Jack had no control over what he was doing. There was surprise and guilt all over Jack's face as well as sadness. North laced a warm hand on his shoulder.

"All that matters is that you're safe now Jack."

The winter spirit looked up at him with disbelief in his glassy eyes. He had just completely wrecked the medical section of North's workshop and that was okay? Sandy hugged Jack's leg and formed an hourglass above his head. There was still sand in the top, but it was running out.

/

"What should we do? Obviously Jack can't stay here." Tooth said.

About five minutes ago North had called Tooth and Bunnymund back to the workshop. It was in the middle of the day so Tooth and Sandy didn't have to go to their jobs yet. "I'll tell ya what we're gonna do, we're gonna stop Pitch from giving Frostbite all the nightmares all the time." Bunnymund answered.

He was very cross at Pitch for doing this to Jack. Sure Jack Frost could really peeve him off but he didn't deserve this. Besides, he still had lots to do to prepare for this Easter and make up for last year's failed attempt and all this chaos was putting him behind schedule.

"Our biggest concern right now is getting Jack somewhere safe." North announced. "Why don't I just stay with Sandy?" Jack asked. He's never seen where Sandy lived. Does Sandy even have a home like the others? Or is he like Jack and just goes wherever he pleases? Sandy shook his head. Then he formed pictures of Pitch coming to him with more power since Sandy and Jack would be together.

"What's he saying?" Jack whispered to Tooth.

"I think he's saying Pitch would be expecting that and he would use more of his power against you since you're with Sandy."

"I thought Sandy was more powerful."

North cleared his throat cutting in on their little conversation. "Sandy is mostly high up in the clouds where the air would be too thin for you Jack."

Sandy nodded in agreement. Besides, he had to work every night which meant he wouldn't have much time for Jack and he didn't really have an entire army of hummingbird fairy helpers like Tooth did.

"Well he can't stay in my warren. There's too much going on with all the eggs." Bunnymund said. He can't risk another year without any eggs or another year without being believed in. Sandy noticed that Jack was starting to close his eyes again so he nudged the tire spirit.

"What? What's happening?" he yawned rubbing his eyes. "Did you guys decide on where to put me yet or what," Jack was too drained to really put up a speech about not getting much of a say in any of this but eh, whatever. As long as they didn't put him with the Kangaroo he was fine. Last time he was there was when it was in the middle of spring and the pollen count had increased making him sneeze out ice and frost.

North threw in another suggestion.

"Well Pitch obviously knows Jack is here and he can't stay in the forest or with Sandy or Bunny so that just leaves the Tooth Palace."

Tooth's face lit up with excitement. "Yeah he can totally stay with me! There's lots of light in the palace and the lanterns are really bright and if Pitch come the palace is big enough for Jack to hide and my fairies have collected the teeth before by themselves lots of times without any trouble and-"

"Slow down there Tooth, remember Pitch can still attack Jack at your palace putting the teeth at risk and he's broken in before."

"Don't worry! I've tightened up security since then and Jack can be in the gardens which are far away from the vaults."

Toothiana's wings were beating faster with excitement and there was a big grin plastered on her face. She could babysit Jack while they thought of a plan and if she temporarily got too busy for him Baby Tooth could keep him company and report back to her if anything was wrong.

"What do ya say Frostbite? Think you can cope with yourself enough to stay with Tooth for a while?" Bunymund asked turning to Jack. Jack was leaning on his staff eyelids half closed until North nudged him nearly making him lose his balance but he caught himself in time.

"Huh what? Oh yeah I can stay with Tooth I guess." He yawned. Sandy tapped Jack's shoulder and he spun around. Above Sandy's head was an image of a snowball. Not quite sure why, Jack obeyed Sandy conjured up a small ball of snow in his palm and handed it to him. Smiling, Sandy chucked the snowball back at Jack hitting him in his face.

"Hey what was that for?"

Jack wiped the snow off his face while the guardians laughed. "He got you awake didn't he?" North chuckled.

He had a point, that snowball Jack had taken to the face did wake him up a bit.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: asdfgh oh ma gersh I knew people liked my story but I never expected this much! And wow 99 reviews lets aim for 100! And for all you toothxjack shippers I got something planned for yall ahaha**

**So anyway please read and review :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Nine

"Hey Frostbite we got something for ya." Bunnymund held out a copy of Jack's blue hoodie. Bunnymund had brought back the original hoodie hours ago and North used some magic and sewing skills to make an exact replica.

Jack raised his eyebrows surprised. He thought that thing was ruined and wasn't he on the naughty list? His eyes turned to North who smiled.

"Think of it as a thank you gift for helping us Jack."

"Thank you North."

Bunnymund cleared his throat. He was the one who had to dig through snow to find a shredded hoodie made for girls and was covered in dry blood.

"Thank you too Kangaroo."

"Better treat that one well Frostbite, cause I am not gonna be digging through any more snow to find it again."

Tooth looked at the clock.

"Oh! It's almost dark we have to get to the Tooth Palace!"

She could hardly keep her excitement from getting out. Sure every second they spent talking it was a second wasted before Jack ran out of time but Jack was looking forward to going to the Tooth Palace too. He hasn't seen Baby Tooth for a couple months and he didn't like being inside for so long. He was more of an outdoors person and it could get stuffy inside sometimes.

Sandy tapped his wrist as if there was a watch on it. "Right! We have to get Jack to Asia as soon as possible." North said. Bunnymund tapped his foot on the ground opening one of his rabbit holes.

"I'm headin back to my warren. I'll see all of you later." He said before jumping through it.

Now all that was left was to get Tooth and Jack to Asia. North and Sandy had a lot of work to catch up on. North reached for a magic snow globe but Tooth interjected.

"North?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think I could try?"

"Sure."

Tooth chirped with glee as she took a snow globe and entered in the commands and threw it at the wall.

"That was actually just a snow globe." North pointed out.

Tooth blushed feeling stupid while Jack and Sandy chuckled. Now there was a huge wet stain on the wall and tiny shards of broken glass on the hard wood floor along with this white stuff.

"Let me try," Jack said picking up a snow globe with his left hand. He knew it was just an ordinary snow globe but hey he has been through a lot today and he needed a break.

Jack tossed the snow globe and it shattered upon impact. Sandy reached up trying to pick up a snow globe so that he could try but he accidently knocked and entire shelf of snow globes on the floor. The three guardians laughed while North was not amused. They knew that they shouldn't be laughing about destroying North's possessions but everyone need to laugh once in a while. Jack almost wished that Bunnymund was here so that he could get a load of this.

"Okay from now on only I can use the snow globes." North spoke. It was a little comical the first time but now it was annoying.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a magic snow globe that was actually magic. North commanded in the coordinates and threw the snow globe actually making a portal this time. Tooth and Jack hopped through and the portal closed. Realizing he was running late for work Sandy crafted himself an airplane and waved goodbye before flying off.

North sighed.

"Phil! Come clean up this mess while I'm gone."

Phil the yeti came in and groaned at the mess.

"Hey trust me Phil, you got it easy."

He handed Phil a broom and dust pan before retreating to his office. Phil huffed as he began to work.

/

Jack and Tooth arrived at the entrance of the Tooth Palace. As soon as Jack set foot on the ground Baby Tooth zoomed by flying circles around her best friend. A few other fairies swooned as Jack smiled petting Baby Tooth's head. Baby Tooth hugged Jack's cheek ignoring the fact that his pale skin made her shiver.

"Okay Baby Tooth that's enough. Jack isn't feeling too well. He's in a lot of trouble if he sleeps and also is he's awake too so keep a close eye on him okay?"

Baby Tooth saluted even though what Tooth just told her shocked her. Tooth led Jack through various tunnels and caverns as well as a couple of towers too. Jack never knew the Tooth Palace was so big how does Tooth even navigate her way around here without getting lost? It took about ten minutes for them just to reach the entrance to the gardens. When Jack was better he'd have to go exploring the palace in his free time.

In fact, if he wasn't so weak right now Jack would have flown through the halls but even the frosty trail his feet made was barely even shimmering and everyday Jack was getting more tired. He yawned as they finally walked into the gardens.

"Okay I have to go assign my fairies to their stations and count them but I promise I'll be back as soon as I can which shouldn't take long and if you need anything just let Baby Tooth know and-"

"Alright alright Tooth I got it sheesh. Just go do your thing and I'll stay here. I won't fall asleep or go crazy or freeze the entire place."

"Are you positive?"

Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yes mom now don't get your feathers all ruffled over nothing."

Both of them laughed a little bit before Tooth turned around and rushed off. Even though Jack only called Tooth mom as a joke because she kept worrying over him it still felt kind of weird. Come to think of it, when was the last time Jack called anyone mom or dad? Did he even have parents back when he was human? If he did then what happened to them when they found out their only son drowned and froze to death at the age of seventeen protecting their daughter?

Jack just realized Tooth had left seconds ago. Man he had to stop zoning out like that. The reason he rushed Tooth to hurry up and leave was because he didn't want her worrying so much about him. She had to work every day like how Sandy does and kind of like how Jack works but he only brings winter to certain parts of the world. Meanwhile Tooth had to do her job every night and it involved reaching every child who had lost a tooth in the entire planet.

Leaning against a tree with Baby Tooth happily chirping around him and flying as if she was on a sugar high, Jack took this time to take in all of the scenery.

Usually Jack didn't care about places like this, but this garden was pretty awesome. Mosaics decorated the canyon walls while cherry blossom trees in full bloom surrounded a small clear pond. Right above Jack in the sky was the sun half set and resting behind green hills.

It was actually a little warm.

Even though it was probably around sixty five degrees Jack tugged at his new hoodie's collar. His right arm was no longer in a sling and just had bandages around it but he still couldn't use it as much as he'd liked.

Jack made a little pile of snow to sit in and Baby Tooth zoomed around his head. He was still tired and the bags under his eyes were probably forming more dark bags. Maybe he could close his eyes for just a few seconds. About three seconds of shut eye wouldn't hurt him that much would it?

Baby Tooth noticed Jack was slowly closing his eyes so she forcefully slapped his eyelids.

"Ow! Hey not so hard next time."

Rubbing his eyes Baby Tooth nodded.

"Jack? I'm back from counting my fairies."

Tooth fluttered down to him as he got up wiping the snow off his ragged pants.

"That was quick."

"Well I have been doing this since before you were even born. So now that I'm here what do you want to do?"

"Maybe we-"

Jack paused and grabbed his staff when he noticed that the sun had already set and how dark it had just gotten. That's not possible. The sun was still here when Tooth came back it couldn't have set that fast could it? No. Someone just made it darker.

"Tooth,"

Jack's voice was just a little over a whisper but he could still be heard.

"Yes?"

"I think Pitch is coming."

"But you're awake and you're not hallucinating. I thought he couldn't get you at the moment."

"So did I but I guess not anymore."

"What if he's just playing with your mind again?"

"But you can see the sudden darkness too so both of us should be ready."

Suddenly a laugh echoed through the gardens making both of them shutter. The duo made a fighting stance facing back to back preparing for the worst.

"Better enjoy her company now Jack. You'll never know when fate will catch up with you."

"Come out and fight me Pitch!"

"I wouldn't rush this if I were you."

Jack and Tooth scanned around with their eyes trying to pinpoint the source of Pitch's voice. Their hearts were beating as fast as Tooth's fairy wings.

"Shouldn't he have attacked by now?"

"He's just trying to scare us."

"Well he better hurry up before I get too impatient."

"That's just what he wants."

The pair didn't even notice the black whip slither around Tooth's legs.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: asdafdsfg 100 REVIEWS ADSFSGDG**

**Declaimer: I do not own rise of the guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Ten

Jack whirled around when he heard Tooth shriek. She was pulled down from the air by the black tentacles around her legs. A blast of ice shot out at the nightmare sand but it only swerved passed it missing it completely.

"Jack!"

"Hold on Tooth I'll-"

"Behind you!"

Jack spun around just in time to fly up before another tentacle could grab his staff. Tooth was being flung around as if she was a rag doll while Jack was trying to shatter the tentacle. It was as if he had no aim. He could hear Tooth grunt every time she was slammed against the canyon wall shattering a mosaic or whenever she was banged against the ground.

Then Jack had heard a cracking noise, and another and another. Enraged, Jack flew along the winds to her aid. His left arm was outstretched to her while his right arm was gripped around his staff.

"Grab my hand!"

He extended his arm even closer but was careful not to be hit by Tooth as she was being whipped around at a fast pace. Tooth reached out as she was swung past Jack but her nail scratched his cheek leaving a small cut on his face. She didn't even have time to apologize before being flung against another canyon wall.

This was all happening too fast for him.

Jack trailed his eyes along the tentacles looking for the source. It led him back to the shadow of the tree he was previously leaning on. A bolt of ice hit the ground around the shadow making Pitch jump out of it grinning.

"Enjoying the show?"

"Leave her alone Pitch!"

The hook of Jack's staff was aimed directly at Pitch's face while fury and anxiety bubbled inside of him. Colorful feathers were scattered on the ground while Tooth was used as a wrecking ball against many trees. There was a sound as if something snapped and Jack was glaring daggers at Pitch who rolled his eyes sighing.

"And why would I?"

"Let her go or else!"

"Or else what? "

"Or else I'll make you wish you were never alive!"

"Ouch Jack, that threat was so scary. I'm practically shivering."

Jack moved in closer.

"Fine, if you insist."

With a snap of his thin grey fingers the black tentacles vanished and Tooth plunged to the ground. Forgetting Pitch, Jack dove to the ground and caught Tooth's broken body in his arms.

Her feathers were ruffled and bent in odd angles while several bruises and cuts were on her body. Blood was dripping from her head and her legs looked like they were broken. It looked like she had at least three broken ribs and a fractured wrist.

Jack carefully laid her on the ground careful not to cause any discomfort. Every second Tooth's breathing was getting slower and slower. Her blood leaked onto the ground and onto Jack's pants. Jack ripped off the bandages on his arm (which was now scarred) and pressed them on Tooth's wounds trying to get her to stop bleeding.

"Tooth you're gonna be alright I promise."

Tears were freezing on the side of Jack's tired eyes.

"J-Jack,"

Her voice was weak but Jack could hear the sorrow in it. Every breath caused her pain as tears streaked from her eyes. Jack hated to see her like this. He choked back a sob as he continued to comfort her.

"D-don't worry Tooth. I'll get the fairies and North and everyone and we'll –"

"I-It's not your f-fault Ja-Jack,"

A tear ran down Jack's face and over the cut on his cheek stinging. This was entirely his fault. He should have done something he could have prevented it but no. Instead all he did was miss and he let Pitch get away.

"J-Just hold on a little longer Tooth. I know you're strong you, you will make it through this."

Her eyes slowly began to close.

"No! Tooth stay with me here. Cmon, you, you've gotta stay with me."

"Jack?"

"Yes?"

Her voice became softer.

"D-Do you think you c-can smile f-for me? I-I wouldn't mind if the l-last thing I saw was your s-mile."

Even though he told himself Tooth would not die here, Jack smiled as hard as he could while frozen tears dripped from his face. He smiled as if everything was going to be okay and as if all of this wasn't his fault. Funny, he never though it would ever be so hard to smile.

Tooth was barley even breathing now. Jack was mentally panicking what should he do? He'd never had to deal with anything like this before and what could he do to help Tooth without making matters worse?

Jack grabbed Tooth's hand. The bleeding had eased up but her skin was paler than his own.

"Tsk. Tsk. Jack what will you do now?"

Jack grabbed his staff and slugged at Pitch's sadistic face smacking him in the jaw knocking him to the ground. Icicles were shot at Pitch and rage filled Jack's eyes.

"LISTEN UP PITCH I WILL-"

"Oh poor Toothiana. Why don't I put her out of her misery-"

"NO-"

Jack didn't have time to react as a black pike pierced through Toothiana's chest.

/

Pitch staggered backward as a blast of ice was shot at him. He escaped through the shadows before Jack could do anything else.

Blood poured onto Jack's arms and seeped into the fabric. She was dead. The Tooth Fairy died right in front of Jack Frost. Her eyes were open with shock and pain in her bright irises and her feathers were tinted dark red. A trickle of blood came from the edge of her mouth as she rested in the arms of the guardian of fun still and stone cold.

Jack mentally kicked himself. He should never have come to the Tooth Palace and he should have never gone to that meeting. He should have just let the nightmare get him so that this wouldn't be happening.

It should have been him.

Toothiana never did anything wrong. She never froze innocent men women and children to death. She never ruined any holidays or created any mayhem that would make a lot of spirits hate her. Toothiana didn't create blizzards or sink the Titanic, she didn't do what Jack Frost did.

Dawn of Day Two, Eighteen Days Remain


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: hey do u no wot I like aboat bein a fanfic author? Trolling u guyz with plot twists and cliffhangers XD**

**Now then, I changed my profile picture to bunnymund since right now I only have one fanfic and it's a rotg one but don't fret im writing another fic and it should be up soon**

**If any of yall were wondering my previous profile picture was karkat vantas from hometuck and I got the picture of bunnymund from this tumblr post:**

post/37408397341/nooby-banana-thenoodleboo

**I also saw this interesting commercial:**

/post/37494982008/demonoflight-inamidnighttalk

**warning: that commercial is not for the squeamish**

**so now I give you the next chapter of sleep**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or ant of its characters**

Chapter Eleven

Jack held Tooth's cold and lifeless body in his arms not noticing the sun coming up. He never knew so much could happen in one day and one night. There were eighteen days remaining, and he would have to spend those days without the Tooth Fairy who is gone forever.

Baby Tooth lay on the ground, as alive as her mother. The Tooth Fairy was dead which meant her fairies were dead too. Every last innocent little fairy that never knew what was coming for them. Jack picked up Baby Tooth's body and laid it next to her mother's. He sniffled. His eyes were puffy and red making the black bags around his eyes look ridiculous.

"I am so sorry."

/

"Okay that's everyone, now to get back to Jack." Tooth said cheerfully. She had just finished her rounds of counting and assigning her fairies who had just returned from getting the teeth that night. Tooth looked at the clock and gasped. This had taken way longer than she had thought.

Just then Baby Tooth zipped in and started badgering Tooth about Jack and was apparently panicking.

"Calm down Baby Tooth! I can't understand you when you're like this."

Taking a few deep breaths, Baby Tooth started to explain what had happened in the gardens.

"What's that? Jack started acting funny? He's probably hallucinating why didn't you just tell me let's go!"

Toothiana grabbed Baby Tooth and they speeded off to the gardens.

She knew she shouldn't have left Jack alone. What if he was hurt? What if Pitch captured him or worse? Paranoid, Tooth raced through the palace until she realized Baby Tooth was still in her hand.

"Baby Tooth, go send out a message to the other guardians and tell them to get here as fast as they can."

The tiny fairy nodded and zipped down the hall.

"No take the hall on your left!"

Baby Tooth reappeared and took the other passage down.

Every second Tooth's heart was racing. The speed it was beating at would kill a normal human. Her wings were just a blur at the speed she was flying at.

Tooth finally reached the gardens and saw Jack heartbroken. He was on his knees weeping violently into his hands and he was covered in blood. On the ground was the bandage that used to be wrapped around his arm and his staff was discarded about a foot away from him. The cherry blossom trees looked as if something was dragged through them and tiles on some of the mosaics were cracked.

Praying that the blood wasn't his, Tooth quivered over to Jack with tears at the pinprick of her eyes.

He didn't even hear the flutter of her wings over his sobs.

"Jack?"

She flew over to the upset guardian. She'd seen jack cry that one time when he thought he had killed his sister, but she had never seen him like this. She had never seen anyone like this.

"Jack what's wrong?"

Usually someone would ask a crying person 'if they were okay' but darn it when someone is crying they are definitely not 'okay' why else would they be sobbing uncontrollably?

Tooth placed her hand on Jack's shoulder and he immediately spun around. His eyes were filled with shock and sadness as his head turned from the ground to Toothiana and then back again. He grabbed his staff pointing it at her while more tears silently streamed from his eyes. He looked afraid.

"Jack it's me Tooth! Remember?"

He didn't say anything. Instead he took a step closer analyzing her with his cold wet eyes that were too sad to be tired.

"T-Tooth?"

"Yes Jack it's me! I'm really here!"

Jack lowered his staff a little before looking into Toothiana's bright eyes. They were filled with worry and anxiety for him. Just like when she had left him before Pitch came. She was really there.

Tooth was taken back when Jack flung himself at her wrapping his arms around her feathery and very much alive body.

"I-I thought you were dead." He cried into her shoulder. Not knowing how to respond, Tooth laid a comforting hand on the boy.

She had never dealt with a bawling child before so what was she supposed to do?

"It's okay now Jack. You're safe and sound." she whispered reassuringly to him.

Jack didn't notice a portal open up behind him and he didn't hear the other three guardians shoot out of it. As soon as they saw a blood covered Jack crying and hugging Tooth they were about run towards them but Tooth waved her hand behind Jack motioning that they were having a moment. Bunnymund and North looked at her before Sandy started pushing them away making sure not to disturb the tender moment taking place before them. He gave Tooth thumbs up and signaled her not to mess this up.

The three guardians ducked behind some trees without a word and out of Tooth's sight. When they weren't looking, they stuck their heads out and spied on her and Jack curiously.

/

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"What do you think?"

"No?"

"Yes."

"So yes then?"

"No!"

"Hmm..."

"No I do not want to talk about it."

All five guardians were gathered in Southeast Asia in the secret gardens of the Tooth Palace.

Jack was sitting in a tree and yawned. His nightmare had ended a long time ago but that didn't mean it had emotionally scarred him for life. One doesn't just forget the time where one of their only friends dies painfully right in front of them. That memory would be burned inside his head forever.

/

A/N: hahahaha did some of you guys really think id kill off toothiana? Also sorry for a short chapter


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: hey guys im back with another chapter! I also have a few things to say**

**bean15: thanks for the critique! :D**

**I also took off my PM setting for a while because I just finished a whole bunch of depressing drama and stuff like that and there was this one person (who shall remain nameless) kept coming and triggering me about all that bad stuff but I should have my PM think back up in a few days once im over it**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Twelve

Jack blew a leaf around in the air until it was frozen solid and dropped on Bunnymund's head.

"Oi! Frostbite knock it off!"

Jack laughed a little until North gave him the 'Jack stop it you have to focus' look that he always hated.

"Has anyone gotten any clues to defeating Pitch or at least stopping him from giving Jack all these nightmares?" he asked. Everyone shook their heads as Jack groaned loudly leaning back in his tree.

Dang it these nightmares were getting more awful and merciless every time. They've been hurting him mentally and psychically and no one had gotten anywhere in trying to find even find a clue.

"If Frostbite is almost killed every time he dozes off then how is he even supposed to get a chance?" Bunnymund inquired. "He doesn't even have anyone with him when it happens."

Golden sand above Sandy's head made shapes of Pitch getting stronger and stronger as Jack's secret fear gets worse and worse. Pitch would have complete control over Jack's dreams even if he had a chance and it had gone too far for Sandy to do something. If this problem had been brought to him earlier then he could do something to help Jack but it wasn't.

Well that is just fantastic. In fact, that's the best news today it even deserves a round of applause.

Not.

"If Pitch is getting so much power from Jack being afraid of something then why don't we just make that fear go away? Maybe it could weaken Pitch just enough for use to stop him." Tooth added.

Jack's silence was so out of character it was weird but instead he just pulled his hood over his head again. It was still covered in dry blood, but they didn't have time to fix it so he'd just have to wear a blue hoodie covered in frost and the dry blood of one of his best friends.

"If we follow that plan then Jack would have to tell us his fear right now." North mentioned.

Here we go again.

The winter spirit shrunk back into his hoodie.

"Well it doesn't look like Frostbite will be confessing anytime soon."

"Maybe we're approaching this the wrong way?"

"He's hardly letting us approach it."

"He has to do it now he's running out of time."

"Oh sure that makes things a whole lot easier."

"No need for the sarcasm Bunny."

"Just bein honest."

In all of their chatter Sandy kept his golden eyes on Jack. He was really worried about him. Jack had always had the most joyful and funny dreams, it pained Sandy to see those fabulous dreams succumb to this.

Jack Frost, the guardian of fun, Old Man winter, the spirit who was isolated for his entire life, the spirit invisible to almost everyone around him, the cold teenage spirit that barely existed, was not the one to open up to others so easily. He told himself he was fine on his own. He could handle himself with no worries. He could solve his own problems without anyone's help.

Well look where that had gotten him.

Now he can't even sleep or stay awake too long.

Jack had to learn to trust others and that they cared about him.

Until they leave him.

The guardian of fun was afraid of losing his friends.

Not just the guardians, but his believers too. Sometimes he would look back on when he had no friends and wonder how he ever made it through that.

In his long and secluded life, Jack had learned one thing, that everyone eventually leaves you. No matter how much they say they're there for you or no matter how much they make you feel like their friendship will last forever, you lose them. They just drift away one day and move on while they just leave you there. In life, people will walk in and stay for a while until they've made an impression on you and then they walk back out.

Jack doesn't want that to happen.

He doesn't want to get too attached to the guardians because he'll be too sad when they leave him. They never even cared about him until MiM chose him to be a guardian.

Caught in his thoughts, Jack didn't notice the guardians were trying to speak to him until Bunnymund nearly pushed him out of the tree.

"Well Frostbite?"

"What?"

"Are you gonna come clean or are we gonna have to come up with a new plan?"

There was a pause.

"A new plan sounds good."

North came over to Jack.

"Listen, it's the only plan that we have that could actually work."

Jack turned his head and suddenly took interest in the ground. He pulled his legs up to his knees and muttered something. Bunnymund was starting to get irritated with how stubborn Jack was being.

"Now listen here Frost, if you don't tell us things will only get worse."

"I don't really see how this could get any worse."

"Just tell us and this can all be over."

"Well that's easy for you to say isn't it? You're just hoping around like 'Oh look at me I'm the Easter Kangaroo mate and I paint eggs and look at all the children that believe in me.' while I'm here having all these nightmares that try to murder me every time I close my eyes. Then if that isn't enough I have four spirits who never even looked at me until a few months ago when they had to use me pressuring me into telling them something personal. Has it crossed any of your minds how selfish you're acting? What if I have a reason for not telling you?"

Jack's temper caused a cold wind to blow snow around them. The gust of wind nearly blewSandy back and Tooth shivered while some snow got caught in North's beard. The lack of sleep had already made him cranky enough and now he's letting out all that frustration and anger out on his friends.

Bunnymund was clearly offended and stormed off down one of his rabbit holes leaving the remaining guardians speechless at what Jack had said. They had gotten so caught up in trying to help Jack that they had forgotten how he may feel. That he was as mature as a child, that he was still so very young on the inside.

Dream sand above Sandy's head molded into shapes of each of them. Jack was in the middle and everyone else surrounded him. They were his family. Jack looked at each of the guardians in the eyes. He could see how sorry they were and how worried they were for him.

Shoot.

They were not going to make this easy.

/

**A/N: so all that stuff up there about how people walk in and out of your life is based on personal experience. Last year I was alone for a very long time. I ended up getting depressed and I almost took my life but and nobody knew about it cause I never told anyone but that doesn't matter right now. I have had friends that tell me theyll be there for me and that they'll be with me forever and then they just leave my life without saying goodbye and ive learned to expect that from all my friends now and this has prevented me from getting real close to anyone because I know that ill miss them too much in the end.**

**And that's enough of me lamenting on my dumb life so sorry about that but anyways reviews are welcomed :P **

**also i made this  
**

** post/37673522080/bunnymund-appreciation-post**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: sup guys :3 thank you for all the reviews and support and stuff like that it really cheered me up. Also updates might be slow since last night I cried myself to sleep at around 11pm and then I woke up around 5am and then I have all this stuff to deal with that my friends forced me into so im really tired**

**After the chapter is another authors note responding to lots of people so just a heads up**

**Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Thirteen

Day Three, Seventeen Days Remain

The sun had come up by the time Jack Frost had realized what Sandy was saying. Bright sunlight glistened over the dream sand and it kind of hurt Jack's eyes.

The point is that Jack had a family now. He wasn't completely alone anymore.

Tooth placed her hand on Jack's shoulder.

"We all care about you Jack, and we want you to be safe."

Looking at everyone Jack saw them agreeing with a grin embedded on their faces. Even though none of them had even acknowledged him before MiM chose him to be a guardian, they were there for him now.

This was all too much right now. His mind was buzzing with thoughts. Out of all this emotional tension, Jack picked up his staff and flew off before anyone could stop him.

"Jack wait!" Tooth called out. It was too late. He was gone.

"Everyone in the sleigh we have to go after him."

"What about Bunny?"

"We can get him later now let's go!"

Sandy and Tooth scampered into the sleigh with North and they took off. This would probably be a little easier if Bunnymund was here to pick up Jack's scent but after he stormed off he probably wasn't coming back anytime soon.

"Where do you think he's going?"

"Probably to Burgess."

"What if he's in Antarctica again?"

"We can check for him there if he's not in Burgess."

North pulled out one of his snow globes and made a portal which they flew through to Burgess.

/

The wind was carrying Jack at such a high speed that he felt like a rocket. He made it to the other side of the Earth in about an hour.

Touching down in Burgess, Jack sighed and mentally kicked himself.

Why did he do that? Why did he run off? Dang it he felt like an idiot no, he was an idiot. Jack had wanted to fly off so bad and he didn't even know why.

He walked on the sidewalk to Jamie's house. He was too tired and confused to flinch when people walked through him. Jack hadn't made any snow in a while. Not wanting the kids to get worried, Jack waved his staff and a light snow fell from the sky. It wasn't his best work but hey, at least he did something.

With his eyelids slowly beginning to close, Jack sat in a snow bank. He felt light headed and was so drowsy. The sagging bags below Jack's eyes were almost entirely black while he was as pale as a ghost.

Deciding to go to the forest because he didn't want Jamie to see him in this condition, Jack called upon the brisk wind and he was half awake by the time he got close to the forest.

Noticing that Jack was falling asleep, the wind blew Jack trough a pine tree snapping him awake.

"Ow okay wind I get it jeez."

Brushing pine needles out of his hair, Jack landed on the frozen lake. He pulled out some more excess pine needles from his clothes sat down on the ice in a huff.

Maybe he should go back and apologize.

He's just making everyone worry about him more except maybe Bunnymund because of what he said. Looking up in the sky, Jack stood back up. He really had to make up his mind if he was going to go wallow in self-pity all alone or go interact with other sentient beings.

With a wave of his staff Jack leaped into the air. Weaving in and out of trees, Jack continued on at dangerously fast speeds.

He had an apology to make and he had to make it before he changed his mind again.

He didn't want to apologize, but Bunnymund had a point. Jack needs their help. He'll never admit it to them or to himself, but it was true. Look at what happened when he thought that he could handle this.

Focused on his thoughts, Jack didn't see the large oak tree he collided with and he was too unconscious to notice that he fell back into a deep snow bank.

/

Bunnymund held a tight grip on his boomerangs. Throwing them at a target, he let out a huff. Jack Frost could really get on his nerves sometimes. Why should he care anyway? The only thing Jack will do is push them away and if he does get better he'll just freeze the place again.

Like the blizzard of '68. Bunnymund had worked his tale off trying to make that Easter a good one and all that hard work for nothing thanks to the spirit of winter.

Jack Fost had no respect for anyone. Not for the people who try to help him and certainly not for the people who brought him out of his shell of loneliness.

That stubborn little brat. But still, he is just a teenager. A teenager who died saving his younger sister. A teenager who was given a another chance at life only to be ignored and not have anyone there for him until he was used to help take down the nightmare king.

Well, technically Jack was a teenager on the outside and a three hundred year old winter spirit with a child's innocence of the inside.

A child's innocence.

A child.

Bunnymund sighed and picked his boomerangs back up. Maybe he should go back. Jack did help take down Pitch after all and he is the reason why Jamie's friends believe in them more. Come to think of it, North treats Jack like a son. Sandy is like his brother and Tooth treats him like her own child. It's been so long since any of the guardians interacted with children and Jack had changed that.

/

As much as they didn't want to, Tooth and Sandy departed to attend their jobs. They spent the entire day looking for Jack. They didn't find a trace of him. Maybe they should have gotten Bunnymund to help before going to Burgess.

It was just North at the moment. He was in the sleigh guiding it across the dense snow covered forest using his aerial view and big eyes to see if he could spot Jack.

North didn't see Jack but what he did see was a hole in the ground open up and a tall Pooka hop out of it. Looks like he finally calmed down enough to show up. North smiled as he turned the sleigh around.

Landing the sleigh and getting out of it, North ran over to Bunnymund who shivered as an icy breeze blew through his fur.

"Bunny! Glad to see you've come to help."

"Woah woah slow down there mate. I didn't say anythin about helping Snowflake. I just came here because he wasn't back at the Tooth Palace"

"Oh that's right. You left before Jack stormed off."

"He what?"

"For some reason he flew off."

"What was he thinking pulling a stupid stunt like that?"

"I don't know."

Bunnymund facepalmed. He went all the way to Southeast Asia just to find out he didn't have to and all for a thick headed tired guardian.

"If we want any chance of finding Jack before something happens we'll have to split up."

"Way ahead of you mate."

Bunnymund shot down another rabbit hold appearing on the other side of the forest. North looked at the small clock in the sleigh. 12:07 am. He went to park the sleigh somewhere safer before continuing his search on foot. He would never find Jack from above the forest and flying in the forest was too dangerous.

Hoping to find a clue of Jack, North began his search.

/

Jack woke up rubbing his eyes. He had a splitting headache and his body was sore. Popping out of the snow bank, Jack dizzily got up. How long had he been asleep? Was he still asleep? Is this a dream? Was everything that just happened a dream? Is he just overthinking this?

All these thoughts just contributed to his headache. The sun was peaking over the mountains and-wait, the sun was rising. Before Jack had crashed into that tree it was still during the day and the sun was in the middle of the sky. How long had he been out?

This is not good. This is not good one bit.

Grasping his head, Jack was having second thoughts about why he was in this mess in the first place. The guardians wouldn't really abandon him would they? But what about when he ruined Easter? They were all so angry and disappointed in him and that had driven him to fly off to the South Pole nearly losing his powers.

What if something like that happens again? What if he does something again causing them to lash out at him and making him feel- no, they're his family. Family sticks together. Sure families fight sometimes and sure they get on each other's nerves from time to time but they're still there in the end right? Right.

/

**A/N: and now it's time for my responses to a lot of you**

**CuddlyHawk: yeah I have the entire thing planned out in a journal im just typing them up c:**

**Lc251: yeah and I hate the feeling. I wish I could help**

**EpicDetour9: ahaha well I still got a few tricks planned for jack ;)**

**NightFury812: awww thank you**

**Kallik's Eternal: yeah there are a lot of people now who can relate to what I said**

**FallingSkiesxxxHalMason: good to know you have atleast 1 close friend c: im 14 now and I have 6 friends but one is an insufferable prick that almost raped me, one is kinda a jerk, I don't really talk to another one, and the other two aren't that close which means I only have 1 close friend but shes at a different school**

**RY0ung: YES YOU CAN BE MY BETA READER AND THAT GOES OUT TO ANYONE ELSE WHO WANTS TO BE MY BETA READER. Im still new to so once I figure out how to get someone to be my beta reader ill start sending out messages :]**

**CloakiSchemer: well you see, I still have a lot more nightmare planned for jack heh heh heh**

**Keyblades of Oblivion: oh im sorry ;_; I hope none of the things happening in the story are affecting you**

**the irish plague: the image of karkat was when he first met kankri**

**Rangerapprentice: aw thanks for liking the story :3**

**Darkblade County: my feelings have been affecting what happens in the story and is basically and output for me because I have all this stress going on in my life but you know its my life .-.**

**LadyPsycho16: I know how that feels. I met one of my bested friends and when we started texting each other he would reply about 2 hours later then stop responding**

**Janazza: well I think the main problem is that im surrounded by the wrong people**

**kazoquel4: yeah! All of my readers are awesome :3**

**Holy snop I did not mean for this to be so long 0_o**

**I really appreciate all the feedback from all of you. When I was reading these I was going through something and then I started crying because you guys are so fantastic C:**

**Also I got the first book of the guardians series and I cant wait to read it asdafd**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: OH MY GOSH OVER 200 REVIEWS ASDFGHJ**

**Also this chapter is a bit longer than the others**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Fourteen

Tooth and Sandy were on their way back to Burgess. Sandy was in an old fashioned airplane made of his dream sand while Tooth fluttered behind. The humming of her wings and the whistle of the air passing them by were the only sounds.

They had noticed that the sun was coming up and they still hadn't heard if North had found Jack yet or if Bunnymund had cooled down.

"I wonder what made jack fly off like that." Tooth said breaking the awkward silence. "Then again, he's been alone for a long time and he's just started getting used to us."

Sandy nodded in agreement. Jack wasn't used to having people so concerned about him. In fact, he wasn't used to people caring about him or opening up to them. It was always "Jack Frost is just an expression." "Don't let Jack Frost in the house!" "Bundle up. You don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose." "Looks like Old Man Winter stirred up quite a snowstorm."

There was never anything like "Oh I hope Jack Frost is okay." "I wonder if Jack Frost ever gets lonely."

No. There was never anything like that until now.

Sure none of the guardians or spirits really liked Jack Frost in the past. A lot of them (such as Bunnymund) hated Jack Frost. He would cover the trees in snow and wherever he went ice and frost followed him. He had made people sick, made crops fail, made children freeze to death, freeze the tongues of foolish kids and teenagers to poles, and there was that one time where he killed 1,517 innocent people in one night when he sank the Titanic with that iceberg.

What was he even doing in the ocean anyways?

Shaking her head out of her thoughts, Tooth flew over a cloud with Sandy.

Once you get to know Jack Frost he's not all that bad. It's true that he's mischievous and he completely ignores rules but he's pretty much a teenager compared to everyone else. That's what most people his age are like, but there's one thing that sets Jack apart from any of them.

His relationships with children.

Jack would bring snow days and let kids have fun in the snow instead of sitting in a school building. He would freeze lakes to ice skate on and he was the most fun spirit to have around.

Well, he is the guardian of fun after all.

/

Jack strode through the forest. Usually he would fly through the trees but his head was still kind of spinning. He didn't know what time it was, but judging the position of the sun and his shadow that only he could see Jack estimated it was somewhere near 8am.

Wow he's been here longer than he had expected.

You'd think that if the guardians were looking for him they'd find him by no but no they had not. Well this forest was pretty dense. In fact, when Jack first woke up it took him about a year to be able to know this forest like the back of his hand and some parts of it were still changing.

Maybe the guardians weren't looking for him.

Here we go again with the silly thoughts. Of course they would be looking for him they were probably worried sick. No, they are worried sick. They've been worried sick since the meeting and all Jack has been doing was making them worry even more.

They already have to deal with enough of his antics and now they're all becoming so restless over him.

Distracting his min away from ideas like that, Jack moved faster through the forest. Where was he even going? The guardians were most likely in the forest so maybe Jack should just stay in one spot until they found him.

Jack sat on a rock to rest. He had given up on trying figuring out if he was dreaming or not. Maybe he was dreaming since he hadn't seen a trace of his friends. Noticing that his eyelids were getting heavier, Jack smacked the trunk of a tree with his staff. Snow fell from the branches and onto his face. That should help.

Continuing on after wiping the snow off of his face, the winter spirit went further and further. Maybe he should start flying. He was about to summon the winds when Jack noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

"That's weird,"

There were claw marks on the tree trunks. Tracing his fingers along the gashes and being careful not to freeze them, Jack became more familiar with them. The width, the shape, how many marks were in the tree, gears in Jack's brain turned.

These were made by wolves.

They were too small to be a bear's and Jack had been in the forest long enough to be able to recognize things like this.

Looking around for wolf tracks, Jack found some a few feet away. Curious, he followed them. He wasn't sure why, but there was just something that was drawing Jack towards them. Soon there were more paw prints in the snow. They looked as if they were chasing someone, or something.

As Jack continued to walk along them there was another set of footprints in the snow. It looked as if they were made by snow boots. They were tiny and looked around the size of Jamie's boots but there were lots of kids Jamie's age here. Squinting his eyes and kneeling down, the soles of the boots looked an awful lot like Jamie's but still, why would he be in the forest at this hour?

Jack knew that sometimes Jamie would go looking for him sometimes but he would usually stay within the boundaries of town. Besides, he's not much of a runner.

Jack smacked himself. He probably was dreaming. Discarding the idea that Jamie would be chased through the forest by maybe two or three wolves, Jack turned around.

But still, there was a tiny chance that he could be wrong.

What if Jamie was in the forest? What if he was chased by wolves? What if he's hurt?

With his head full of 'what if' scenarios, Jack raced along the tracks.

"Jack!"

He knew that voice. It was Jamie.

With his eyes moving up Jack saw Jamie high up hanging from a tree branch struggling to stay on. There was snow and dirt on his pants while his jacket was torn.

"How did you even get up there?"

The tree looked like it was maybe fifty feet tall at least.

"I haven't seen you in a while so I started looking for you and then some wolves chased me up this tree!"

The sound of splintering wood was filling Jack's ears as Jamie's eyes were filling with terror. With a snap, Jack watched as his first believer plunged to the ground.

/

"Have you seen him North?" Tooth asked. She and Sandy had just run into North who was scouting the edge of the forest. The sun was now in the sky completely and it seemed to be around maybe 9am.

"Not yet. By the looks of it he may not even be here. There's a chance he could have gone to Antarctica."

Sandy shivered. While North and Tooth chattered away Sandy saw a grey blur rush pass them.

"That must be Bunny."

Bunnymund hopped back over to them teeth slightly chattering. The temperature had dropped again and the wind wasn't helping.

North turned to him.

"Did you find him?"

"If I did don't you think I'd be with him?"

All four guardians stood in the snow. Well, Tooth was actually hovering above it but the point is that they were all gathered in snow. It was freshly fallen snow too which meant that Jack was either near or he was close.

North stroked his beard deep in thought. When Tooth was collecting teeth she said that she hadn't seen Jack close to Jamie's house, Bunnymund hadn't seen him at the lake when he had passed it a few minutes ago, and there were signs that Jack was still somewhere in the colossal forest.

"Hey North, you may wanna take a look at this."

Bunnymund pointed to a path of trees. Lining the trunks was an icy fern pattern that was made whenever Jack's staff touched anything. The path lead south to a small clearing in the distance. The assortment of frosted trees caused the four veteran guardians to follow it in hopes of finding their friend.

/

There was a loud crunch when Jamie's body hit the ground. Jack was not amused. Instead, his eyes were narrowed and his expression showed that he was tired of all this.

"Nice try Pitch but I'm not falling for it. Jamie is in school and even if he was being chased by wolves he sucks at climbing trees."

Jamie's body diffused into black sand and streamed across the shadows of trees. They flowed back to their master, Pitch Black who stepped out from Jack's own shadow startling him.

"And here I was, thinking that you would always be so ignorant. Well don it seems you're not as dense as I thought."

Pitch clapped slowly and sarcastically. He slowly made his was around Jack. Pointing his staff, Jack aimed for Pitch and shot a discharge of ice but Pitch sidestepped and back handed his enemy in the face.

"Poor little Jack Frost, all alone again with no one to care for him."

"Don't be ridiculous. The guardians-"

"They used you my dear boy, the only reason why they ever cared about you was because you were called upon."

Pitch vanished into the shadows and encircled Jack.

"None of them ever cared about you before, why should they now? So that you can fall back on them when you mess up again?"

Discouraged, Jack called out to Pitch.

"If you're so smart them come out and face me!"

"In your condition? You wouldn't even be strong enough to fight on of North's thoughtless little elves."

"I could take you any day I want."

"Then tell me this, if you're so strong then why don't you wake up?"

"I am awake."

"Are you? How can you be so sure?"

Pitch rose up behind Jack and swiped at the back of his neck. Jack retorted with a bolt of ice and he hit Pitch in the stomach. Ice spread on his robes but he smashed them and knocked the shards to the ground. With a snap of his fingers, fearlings surrounded Jack who smirked.

"Do you really think a few measly fearlings can stop me?"

"I never said I was trying to stop you. I don't have to. All I'm doing is wasting your time. How long has it already been? Three days? Tsk tsk Jackie boy, I thought that you could do better than fly off in an emotional wreck. You might as well cancel all those snow days you promised before Easter."

Jack stabbed the head of a fearling with the butt of his staff. He swung it around just in time to smash another and then another. Even though he had only just begun fighting, Jack was already starting to feel drained. Maybe he shouldn't have charged into the battle full of fatigue,

With all his strength, a wave burst through the tip of Jack's staff freezing the remaining fearlings in solid ice.

/

"This way!" Tooth called. She was ahead of everyone else but they were all nearing the end of the trail. Footsteps were in the snow, Jack's footprints. Who else would be walking through a forest in the middle of winter without any shoes?

Bunnymund stopped and sniffed the air while his ears twitched.

"Snowball was here,"

To their left was frozen nightmare sand. They moved closer to examine the fearlings encased in the ice. The sun sparkled off the clear and vibrant ice made than none other than Jack Frost. It actually looked quite glamorous, but none of them had time to fawn over it when a loud grunt echoed through the forest followed by what sounded like an explosion.

/

**There was a question asking how long this fic will be and so far I have 25 chapters written out so it will probably be around 30 chapters including the epilogue.**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: omg guys im so sorry that i uploaded the wrong thing D:  
i was rushing when i was doing this because my dad was peeved at me for being on the computer at 7:40 because im supposed to be off by 7:30 and i wanted to update the fic because i didnt wan to disappoint all of you who were looking forward to an update but i guess i did disappoint all of you -_-'  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Fifteen

Jack had just collided with another tree. Pitch was hot on his heels and Jack barely had time to avoid a tree falling down on him courteous of his pursuer. He had to get out of here fast. Who knows what else Pitch could be planning?

His collision had slowed him down a bit, but that didn't stop Jack.

"You can't hide from me fear Jack,"

A shot of black sand caused another tree to explode next to Jack and he was flung to the ground hitting it hard.

Each breath He took made his heart beat faster and faster. The distance between him and the Nightmare King had increased in the past few seconds and he was probably at a good distance. With his vision getting blurry and his ears ringing, Jack slowed down enervated. Slowing down to a halt, he collapsed near a tree to rest.

"Awww are you done already? I expected this to be more fun, but clearly I was wrong again."

Pitch appeared inches away from Jack's face but stumbled back when the cold guardian punched him in the jaw.

"Why you little brat,"

"I'm just getting started."

"Well if you like games so much, then let's see how you do against this."

Pitch threw some nightmare sand in the air and it exploded showering the forest. With a wave of his hands, Jack watched in terror as the forest became engulfed in flames.

This was the worst nightmare yet. Jack knew this was just a dream because its psychically impossible for Pitch to start a forest fire in a snow covered forest in the middle of winter.

Jack tried to shoot ice from his staff but it only melted in front of him and dropped to the warm ground in a puddle. All of the snow was melting around him and becoming steam that was quickly drowned out by grey smoke. Sweat was already making its way down Jack's face as the air heated up faster.

He began choking on the nightmare induced smoke. The air was too hot and dry for him to fly out and Jack Frost was trapped in an imaginary blaze.

/

"There he is!" North shouted. He pointed to a clearing with Jack dazed in the middle of it. He was coughing his lungs out and batting the air. Tooth made a beeline for him and within half a second she was by his side.

"We have to wake him up!" she said in a nervous tone. She had never seen Jack sweat or cough so hard like this. Bunnymund shook Jack by his shoulders.

"Cmon Frost wake up!"

Jack shot a bolt of ice from his staff inches away from Bunnymund's face. Jack looked like an ice cube in a microwave. He was starting to get warmer to the touch and he hadn't stopped coughing while it looked as if he was melting. The frost on his hoodie was already dripping off and his staff felt warm. Sandy sprinkled dream sand over his head but it was no use.

/

Each time Jack coughed he inhaled more smoke. All of the ice and snow he had made were just laying on the ground reduced to puddles of hot water. Jack stayed in the middle of the clearing staying away from the flames. He clutched his wooden staff in a death grip keeping it away from any fire. This may just be a dream, but Jack wasn't about to let his staff become firewood.

Warm sweat stung his eyes as the hazy smoke swirled around him. He could barely see a thing and the ground was beginning to heat up. He had to wake up now.

He could hardly breathe and the sound of crackling fires filled his ears. Jack accidently backed into one of the puddles of melted ice and scowled in pain. The water was steaming hot. Behind Jack there was the sound of splintering wood as if a tree was about to fall.

/

The guardians watched Jack tumble on the ground as if dodging something. When he turned back around they saw that there was ash on his face, his white hair was now grey with soot. He was panting as if he couldn't breathe and he was getting weaker than ever.

"What are we supposed to do?" Tooth asked. There was fear for the young guardian in her voice. The last time they were with Jack when he was dreaming he was drowning and chucking up water. Now it looked as if he was surrounded by fire and slowly dying.

"We have to wake him up as fast as we can." North answered. "We don't know how long he'll last like this."

Jack looked as if he was about to pass out. Bunnymund hopped over to Jack and slapped him hard across the face.

"Bunny!"

"I was only trying to wake him up."

Their eyes moved back to Jack. He was unfazed but his cheek was red. Sandy made an image of Jack in a snow bank. If they couldn't wake him up, maybe they could cool him down.

/

Jack had just evaded a falling tree. That was too close for his comfort. In fact, all of this fire was getting too close for him. They seemed to have grown in the past few minutes, and Jack was getting hotter. Trees and twigs were being reduced to smoldering ash that burned Jack's bare feet.

Soot and ash were covering his pants and hoodie. The ground sizzled under his feet within each step and every breath burned his lungs. He tried walking but every step he took sent blistering pain up his body from walking on the scorching ground.

The outer layer of the skin on his feet was beginning to get littered with second and third degree burns. Jack was probably starting to suffer from heat exhaustion and going through a heat stroke. He was a winter spirit trapped in a forest fire caused by the king of nightmares.

Usually he would probably be dead by now, but this was a dream. Pitch just wanted to use up Jack's time, not kill him so soon.

Crawling on his hands and knees feeling as if he was about to faint, Jack shuddered every time he made contact with the burning ground. His hands were probably going to be as burned as his feet later but all that mattered was he had to wake up. He had never wished to fly so hard in his long life.

Jack coughed again on the smoke. Everything was a dark grey and he could barely see his staff which was being held in his left hand.

/

North tossed Jack's over heating body into a nearby snow bank. They all watched in horror as the snow around him began to melt. This was worse than they thought. Jack continued to burn up and his temperature was spiking with each passing moment.

"What if we put cold water over him?" Tooth suggested. A light bulb went off in North's head.

"The lake!"

"Oh no mate, we're trying to cool him down not drown him."

"Bunny's right."

"No not that, we can submerge everything but his head in the lake."

Everyone looked at him and they shrugged in agreement. It was worth a shot. Besides, what else could they do? It's not like they've dealt with a practically melting child before.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: hey everyone im back with with chapter 16 and if you havent noticed yet i went back and fixed chapter 15 so make sure you read that first ;) **

**Im currently writing chapter 26 of the fic and once I finish writing the last few chapters updates will probably be more frequent**

**Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Sixteen

He was dehydrated, the heat stroke was making him dizzy, his muscles ached, he was disorientated, and he felt like he was going to puke. Jack had no idea how long he's been trapped in this nightmare, but the blisters on his feet and palms felt as if they were on fire. He was pretty sure he had a fever now.

There was too much haze to see anything and Jack could barely feel his staff. It didn't matter anyway because Jack's vision was getting cloudy and he had coughed so much his throat was raw.

His silvery snow white hair was covered in ash and was as gray as Bunnymund's fur. The soot that littered his body was as black as the bags under his eyes and Jack wished that he would wake up already.

Why this?

Jack knew how heartless and sadistic Pitch could be but this was nowhere near compared to his other nightmares. Every agonizing breath he took scorched his lungs and he was powerless against the forest fire.

Jack grabbed his staff and pointed the crook of it at his face. He may not be able to shoot ice in these conditions, but he can still shoot out ice that will come out as cold water. Jack blasted himself in the face with water trying to wake up.

/

"Stand back everyone!" Bunnymund cried out. He took out one of his exploding eggs and chucked it onto the frozen lake. It lay in the middle until it blew up and colorful smoke filled the air as ice and water rained back down.

It was a decent sized hole. It wasn't too big or too small and the edges seemed thick enough to support them.

Bunnymund tested the ice to see if it was strong enough.

"Looks like it'll hold up."

North held Jack's warm body and they moved to the center of the lake. Tooth hovered over them with her wings beating faster than usual with anxiety. Bunnymund stuck the tip of his paw in the water to check it.

"Crikey that's cold!"

He immediately pulled his paw back.

"You might wanna put on some gloves North,"

"I think I should be fine Bunny."

North dipped Jack's body in the water until it went to his upper chest. Noticing the change, Jack stirred a little bit. They became hopeful and Tooth held Jack's staff as Bunnymund tried dripping some of the frigid water over Jack's ash covered head. His fur soaked up some of the water and it poured down on the teen's face.

It was a good thing there weren't any humans around to see this, otherwise this would get real awkward real fast.

Sandy noticed that Jack's eye began to twitch. He started kicking and splashing in the water making it hard for North to keep a firm grasp on his shoulders. Jack's eyes snapped open and he gasped for fresh clean air.

Jack sucked in the air too fast and started a coughing fit again.

"Take it easy Jack," North said still holding the boy by his shoulders in the water. Relief swept over all of the guardians in seeing Jack wake up.

North pulled Jack out of the water and hugged him ignoring the fact that he was cold and drenched in freezing water. Tooth and Sandy joined the group hug and Bunnymund patted Jack on his back.

Jack opened his mouth to say something but he just sputtered. He still felt like he was going to faint and his body was so frail now. Jack started to feel something in his throat. Oh no. Sandy noticed Jack's behavior and recognized what was about to take place. He pulled Jack out of the group and leaned him over the ice.

"What's wrong now?" Tooth asked. The anxiety was back. The other guardians looked at Jack as he began to stammer some more.

"The bloke looks like he's gonna hurl,"

They took a step back from Jack as he vomited on the ice. Tooth looked away disgusted and North made a face. Sandy rubbed Jack's back as the leftover effects of the heat stroke continued.

The burns and blisters were still covering Jack's palms and feet. Any leftover water on his body was slightly frosted over while Jack started to breathe again. North went to his side and leaned down to Jack's level.

"N-North,"

Jack's voice was rough and raspy.

"You're going to be okay Jack, I promise."

Jack was about to respond before Tooth shushed him.

/

Bunnymund was carrying Jack bridal style so that he wouldn't have to walk. It wasn't hard, Jack weighed as much as a feather. Well, the wind did blow him around a lot.

They were making their way back to the sleigh and North was ahead of them leading the way. Tooth was still holding Jack's staff as they traveled through the forest. The only sound being made was the snow shifting and twigs snapping as they scurried across the ground.

Sandy looked up in the sky. The sun was beginning to set and the day was nearing its end. That meant him and Tooth would have to leave soon.

"I-I'm sorry for flying off e-earlier."

The sheepish outburst caught them all by surprise. That's right, the reason they were all here was because they were trying to find Jack who had flown off for some reason.

"We can talk about this later Frostbite,"

Jack looked up at Bunnymund embarrassed. He had made all of them worry over him so much and now look at him. He couldn't walk, his palms were burned and blistered, he had nearly given them all a heart attack, and he had just wasted important time. If he hadn't run away then today would have been different.

Sensing Jack's discomfort, Tooth tried to put on an act as if she wasn't all that worried. She could feel how upset and guilty he was, and she hated it.

Lost in his thoughts, North hadn't noticed how dark it had become.

"Tooth, Sandy, you two need to get to work."

"But what about Jack?"

"We'll heal him back at the pole."

"But I thought that the infirmary-"

"The yetis rebuilt it and made it stronger than ever. They can do more than make toys you know."

Tooth turned to Sandy. There were times when they really hated having to work every night. This was one of those times. Still, they had a duty to follow and jobs to do or else they would stop being believed in.

"Relax Tooth, North and I can handle him."

She turned to Bunnymund still hesitant.

"Has there ever been a time where you've doubted us?"

"Well, no."

"The go to your job we got this."

Sandy and Tooth nodded and they took off. Now it was just Bunnymund, North, and Jack.

/

The ride back to the pole was hushed. Bunnymund had set his fears of flying high up with a reckless driver and no seatbelts aside for Jack. Besides, North had made sure to fly as smoothly as he could. He didn't want anything else to happen to the already wounded spirit of winter.

Jack was too weak and tired to say or do anything. His throat still hurt from all the smoke inhalation and his body was still aching all over. Slowly, his chest rose and lowered itself.

North flew the sleigh back into the workshop's parking space. They took Jack to the newly built infirmary to bandage him up. None of them said a word as they wrapped bandages on Jack's hands and feet. The silence was unbearable and a bit uncomfortable.

Jack never liked the silence. He had had enough silence in his life and he did not need anymore. Maybe they were silent because they didn't know what to say? Jack knew that they were too worried about him to be mad or disappointed with him.

That still didn't stop Jack from feeling like he just messed up big time.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: hey everyone im back with another chapter :3 **

**oh and by the way, you know how ive been writing this fic in a notebook and then typing the chapters up? Well im currently **_**writing**_** the epilogue right now meaning there will be a **_**total of 31 chapters **_**and I apologize if that's a little too long :/**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of The Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Seventeen

Dawn of Day Four, Sixteen Days Remain

The sun was coming up and Tooth zoomed through the halls of the workshop swerving left and right avoiding yetis. She had finished work early before Sandy so she could check up of Jack. All through the night she was uneasy and the fact that Pitch could return wasn't helping.

She turned a corner and nearly flew into the door before coming to an abrupt halt. She didn't want to cause a sudden commotion by barging in. Instead, her shaking hand inched to the door handle and slowly, very slowly, she carefully opened the door to the infirmary fearing the worst.

The sight she saw nearly put her to tears.

There he was, Jack Frost, the rambunctious and fun spirit, lying in a bed injured.

Again.

Only this time it was much worse.

The window behind the bed was wide open making the room chilly as the wind tried to comfort its rider. There was snow stockpiled around the bed and Jack's tattered and singed hoodie and pants were replaced by a light t-shirt and shorts. If you took a closer look, the shorts almost looked like female attire but Jack was so skinny they were the only ones that would fit him.

After the entire colony he was being raised in was short on food and it was winter meaning there would be fewer supplies.

Jack's hands and feet were carefully enveloped with bandages like a mummy while a towel soaked in freezing cold water was on his forehead. There was some sort of breathing mask on his mouth and nose with a tube on the end that led to an oxygen tank.

Jack was flat on his back with his hands behind his head staring up at the ceiling through bloodshot and weary eyes.

Four days, it's been four days and approximately two months since all of this started, and so much has already happen.

Bunnymund and North were by Jack's bedside apparently still asleep but not Jack, he was wide awake and bored. Through the entire night of North and Bunnymund tending to him he couldn't talk because of the mask placed over his face.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Tooth's wings brought her over to Jack. With his head turned towards her, he waved to her knowing that she wouldn't understand him with the oxygen mask on. Tooth waved back and got closer to him hovering by his side.

There were a few scars from the more less serious burns scattered on his body and all of the ash and soot was washed off his pale figure.

"W-Will you be okay?" she croaked out. He had almost died yesterday and all they could do was wake him up and care for him.

Jack nodded his head. Tooth mentally sighed in relief. Knowing that Jack just needed to rest up here lifted the panic in her heart. Just then, Sandy swiftly flew through the open window on a small golden airplane that looked as if it was from the 1930s. He took off the aviation goggles and scarf he had and rushed over to jack.

"He'll be alright Sandy; he just has to rest here for a while."

Reassured, Sandy calmed down and he sat on the edge of the bed frame. Jack nodded in agreement and looked over to north and Bunnymund. He had watched them both doze off hours ago but he didn't dare to wake them up. Sandy and Tooth nudged the sleeping guardians wake. They yawned groggily obviously tired from yesterday and last night.

"Good morning you guys!" Tooth said cheerfully. The good news Jack had given her had made her cheerful and less twitchy.

"Mornin," Bunnymund responded. Tooth was still a bit too perky in the morning and Bunnymund was not a morning person like her. In fact, he was still tired and wanted to go back to sleep but Tooth wouldn't let him.

North focused his attention on Jack.

"How do you feel?"

Jack gave a thumbs up to him lying. He wasn't actually as fine as he motioned to them, but he wasn't one to be very honest.

/

Pitch walked through the dark halls of his lair triumphantly. Everything was going according to plan. If he kept this up, Jack would be feeble enough by the end of the week. Still, maybe he shouldn't rush this. Maybe he should wait the two more weeks and torture the boy.

Anyway, Pitch loved all of the fear taking place within the guardians. All he had to do was give Jack one ravenous nightmare and that would be enough to scare all five of them. They always had the worst fears, and the nightmare king loved it.

He made a devious smile as he walked past a cage like stable where multiple fearlings and nightmare men resigned.

Pitch made his way through the gothic underground cavern and was now standing in front of his globe. There were still millions of lights on it, but that wasn't what he was after right now. What Pitch focused his attention on was the North Pole.

He knew Jack was recovering there and that he would stay there for a few days. He also knew that they were currently plotting against him. You would think that by now they would have given up or have a plan that wasn't ridiculous. Jack was too stubborn and closed up to cooperate very much and the guardians were to blame. Even Pitch wouldn't ignore a young spirit for a large portion of their miserable life. After all Jack was similar to him.

The only humans that knew about both of them were that stupid boy and his ragtag group of idiots in Burgess. Pitch remembered giving them nightmares. It was so easy and that boy closest to Jack always had the best nightmares. Sometimes they would be about Jack and other times they would be about the guardians or about him.

Pitch was getting more successful in his plot. Jack was like putty in his hands. He would just have to wear him down enough until he could easily be molded into whatever Pitch wanted him to be, and that was just what Pitch Black was planning to do.

With all of the nightmares Pitch had given Jack he could easily kill him right now but no, Pitch had something else in stored. If he had murdered Jack in his sleep then guardians would be at him seething with rage and fury and Pitch would be too weak to take them on like that.

What Pitch was planning would be worse than the death of Jack Frost.

All this time, Pitch was looking at this at the wrong angle. There was no chance Jack would consciously join him and no amount of temptation or convincing would change that.

His mind was being weakened every day and his soul was slowly deteriorating. His defenses were wearing down every second he was awake and every second he was asleep. In just two more weeks Pitch would be able to entirely override Jack's body with nightmare sand and turn him into a fearling, and is greatest alley. Together they would be too strong for the guardians, and fear would cover the earth.

After all, fear was a powerful thing. It could cause wars and murders as well as chaos and accidents. Fear is what has weakened many and has caused the downfall of colonies and authority figures.

Pitch stroked the mane on one of his fearlings.

This was all too easy.

/

A/N: so the 'nightmare men' are used in the novels and in the movie it was just the fearlings.

Dancing With The Clouds : I actually didn't know I was that good. I thought I was pretty average at writing but I guess 4th grade helped me improve. My teachers in 4th grade would take off five points if we used "like" or "good" instead of a synonym for them and it would be 10 points taken off if we didn't indent a paragraph


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: hey everyone I have successfully written out the entire story :3 I have the completed fic in my notebook so now I can finally start on some more rise of the guardians fics and they'll hopefully be posted once this one is done**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Eighteen

It had taken Jack about two days to get his strength back. He spent one day lying in bed with an oxygen mask on his face with bandages and the next sipping cold water every second. He still couldn't walk that well since the burns on his feet were still there, but he was strong enough to hover over the floor.

Two days he spent recovering.

Sixteen days minus two.

That's fourteen.

Fourteen days until his body shuts down.

Two weeks until he would be lost forever in nightmares.

No.

He was going to make it through this.

Jack Frost is not going to fall under nightmares and into the clutches of Pitch Black.

The guardians wouldn't let that happen.

Right?

Right.

Jack sighed and leaned back on a rafter. Tooth had insisted that he stay in bed and rest but she wasn't here at the moment. In fact, only North and Bunnymund were in the room with him because Tooth and Sandy were working. They both fell asleep again but Jack wasn't waking them up anytime soon. Besides, he can't have them nagging him to stay in bed again and every now and then he needed to think to himself.

For the first time in his life, Jack Frost kind of felt guilty about lying.

But why?

He was fine.

He was okay.

He's always okay.

But still…..

No.

He was not okay.

Jack Frost was never simply 'okay'.

There was always something in the back of his mind tugging at it.

He's been isolated for almost his entire life. Throughout history he had to witness horrifying events like the Revolutionary War, the sinking of the Titanic, nuclear bombs, industrial riots, gang fights, and other events that would scar him for life.

And no one was there to comfort him or soothe him when he cried himself to sleep all alone or calm him when he was scared.

Now there's this.

Only Pitch knew what his nightmares were about. None of the guardians knew anything about them except by what he told them. They didn't know about the bear made from nightmare sand, when he relived the time he drowned, or when Tooth died. He hadn't told them the details. Well, Sandy might know but he's never looked into hallucinations like Jack's and the sandman knows that there are dreams that should stay private.

Jack blew some hair out of his face.

Bandages were still wrapped around his hands and feet and he was even more tired than before. His throat and lungs had stopped burning since yesterday and his body was back to its original icy temperature. Jack looked at the sun come up.

Dawn of Day Seven, Thirteen Days Remain

Now he's spent three days recovering and now there's only thirteen days left for him. That's less than two weeks. Jack slouched against the rafters. What were they even supposed to do? They hadn't made any progress in trying to stop Pitch and their chances weren't looking pretty high for them either.

Lost in his thoughts, Jack didn't notice his staff slip out of his mummified hand and crash to the ground causing a loud clang that ricocheted off the walls. The sudden commotion made Jack wince as Bunnymund and North woke up armed and alert for anything.

"What happened what going on?" North asked. Bunnymund looked over and noticed Jack wasn't in bed. "Where's Frostbite off to now?" he asked a bit cranky from his abrupt awakening.

Oh that's right, Jack got out of bed and flew up to the rafters and out of sight from them after they fell asleep.

The two grounded guardians saw Jack's wooden staff lying on the solid wood floor. Not wanting any of them to jump to conclusions, Jack poked his head over the rafter he was on.

"Hey guys I'm up here." He called down waving to them. North and Bunnymund glanced up both thankful that nothing had stolen their precious little winter spirit out from their noses.

Jack descended from the beam and picked up his staff.

"Crikey Jack you nearly gave us a heart attack. What were you doing up there anyway? Get back into your bed before you cause something else."

"And a good morning to you too." He said taking a bow.

"Haha very funny."

Once he put his twin swords away, North walked over to Jack.

"What are you doing up in the rafters? We told you to stay in bed."

"The bed is boring."

"Then how do you feel?"

"Tired."

"Anything else?"

"Nope."

"Are you lying again?"

"Ouch North, do you really not trust me to tell you the truth? You have hurt my fragile icy heart with your unkind words."

Jack gave North a smirk.

Yup he was fine.

/

Tooth was once again racing through the halls of North's workshop. She was coming back from collecting teeth and through the whole time Jack was on her mind. He's been on her mind ever since the meeting when they had seen Jack in his condition.

Tooth sped down a corridor and tried to slow down before slamming into the wooden doors to the infirmary. The sound of her collision caused the door to be swung open by Bunnymund.

"Ya alright there Tooth?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

Tooth quickly got up and expected herself for any injuries. As soon as she was done, she shot up and flew above Bunnymund's head and into the infirmary where Jack was sitting on the crook of his staff in the middle of the room.

"Jack! What do you think you're doing? You're supposed to be in bed resting!"

"I already went over this with North. The bed is boring and I'm fine."

"You always say you're fine when you're not!"

"Then I'm okay."

Tooth looked at him disapprovingly while the guardian of fun responded with a smirk showing his snow white teeth to her.

There was suddenly a tapping at the window startling both of them but it was only Sandy. North opened the window for him to fly in and he cheerfully waved to everyone.

Now that all of the veteran guardians were gathered and Jack's health was improved since the night he was brought to the pole, they wasted no time in asking why he had flown off a few days ago.

Jack only looked at the ground and pulled his clean blue hood over his head. It took a while, but he finally opened up to them. He told them everything. How he was afraid they were going to abandon him again and how he knows that they're just going to leave him later on and move on without him. That they didn't need him anymore because all he was doing was making them worry and that when this was all over they could go back to their normal lives without him.

After his confession, the winter spirit was emotionally exhausted and there were little tears beginning to form in his tired eyes. There was a lump in his throat as if he was about to cry but he didn't dare show it. Everyone was silent after he was done talking. The only sound was the flutter of Tooth's wings.

Jack became startled when North placed a hand on his back and Sandy nearly knocked him off his staff in a hug. Soon enough, Tooth and Bunnymund were with him and they all surrounded him.

All of them reassured him that there was nothing for him to worry about. They were immortal, which meant that they wouldn't leave Jack's life forever and that he had actually made their lives more interesting. The four guardians were like his family now. Sure, sometimes families fight and sometimes they get on each other's nerves but no matter what happens; they always have your back.

Jack was speechless. This was his first time really opening up to them-

No.

This was the first time he's ever talked about how he felt in his entire life.

And now that he has, the guardians were actually starting to change his mind. None of them were going to shun him anymore, and they were all going to make sure of that.

A few minutes passed before they all got down to business. They had to come up with a plan on how to stop Pitch.

How would they do that of Jack was constantly at risk of a nightmare?

It was like there was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off in his mind. Jack could have dreams or hallucinations when he'd least expect it. He was completely vulnerable to the Nightmare King.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: sup everyone im back :D (OMG ALMOST 299 REVIEWS LETS MAKE IT TO 300 TODAY)**

**Guest: Pitch's fear of the guardians are what attracted the fearlings to him and it fueled them to go after him because no one was afraid of him anymore. This fic takes place about two months after the events of the movie and pitch's plan deals with jack **_**then**_** the guardians instead of all of them at once so he's not that afraid of them anymore**

**Dancing With The Clouds: oh cool its nice to know someone likes my writing style and the way I repeat stuff like that :3 now I know im not being annoying**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Nineteen

Jack couldn't defeat Pitch alone. Whenever he would try Pitch would overpower him in his dreams or he would use cheap shots. Everyone concluded that Jack needed someone to help him battle Pitch in his dreams but how? When Jack had dreamt of Tooth she was created by his nightmare which was made by Pitch and whatever happened in the dream depended on the dreamer's mind or how sadistic and cruel the Nightmare King felt.

A light bulb above Sandy's head went off.

"What is it Sandy?" North questioned. Sandy pointed to North, Tooth, and Bunnymund then he pointed to Jack's head. Confused, Jack drifted closer to Sandy.

"What?"

Sandy made a depiction of a large dream cloud. Then he formed the guardians and they were all inside the dream together with Jack. After that he created more forms of the guardians sleeping below the dream while they were monitored by Sandy.

"So you're saying that everyone comes into Jack's dream while you watch us sleep?" Tooth asked.

Sandy nodded a 'yes'. He planned to put them all to sleep then combine their dream sand with Jack's mind so that they would go inside his dream.

The idea seemed a little farfetched to them. Jack was the most unsure about the plan out of all of them. Can Sandy even do that? Weren't there rules to dreams? Then again, he's the Sandman who makes the dreams and since when did Jack Frost care about rules anyway? He held the record on the naughty list he respects rules as much as he respects Bunnymund.

"Are you sure that would work Sandy? We don't know where Frostbite's mind will take us even if you put us in his dream." Bunnymund said. Sandy replied with waved his hand horizontally giving a 'maybe' sign but he was sixty nine percent sure that the plan would work.

They all turned to North to see what his opinion was. "It sound crazy enough to work and if anything happens Sandy could always wake us up." He answered. Of course North would agree with Sandy. He was the one who always came up with the craziest schemes like collecting the teeth or having Jack stuffed into a sack and shoved through a magic portal.

"I guess it just depends on what Jack's dream is about." Tooth said.

What she said made Jack worry a little. Barely anyone knew what his mind was like, even he didn't know. He can't really control it and if he could no one had taught him how. Jack's dreams could be about his human memories back when he was still mortal or it could be about what's going on around him. It also depends on his mood. They all know that the winter spirit can often lose control of his emotions. He's a teenage guardian with a temper.

/

All of the guardians (except for Sandy) were lined up on a bed. Sandy was about to put them all to sleep so that they could enter jack's dream.

"Whenever you're ready Sandy." North signaled. The guardian of dreams nodded and a golden baseball cap appeared on his head as well as a pitcher's glove and three balls of dream sand. If he was going to put his comrades to sleep, he might as well have some fun doing it right?

Jack closed his eyes for about three seconds before he went out like a light. Sandy did some warm ups and grabbed a dream sand baseball. He aimed and did some test throws.

"Just get on with it mate." Bunnymund interrupted impatiently.

"Yeah I think we should hurry before something happens to Jack." Tooth added on.

"They're right Sandy we don't have time to waste." North said.

Slightly discouraged, Sandy obliged to what they said. He turned his base cap backward and pitched his first ball of dream sand at North. It hit the jolly guardian square in the face and he automatically fell asleep while the golden sand floated above his head. Sandy then turned to Bunnymund and got ready to knock him out.

"Keep an eye out for us will you mate?"

Sandy nodded and put the pooka to sleep as well. Now it was just Tooth left. He picked up his last ball of dream sand but Tooth interrupted him before it could leave his small hands.

"Wait! I just thought of something! How long would we be asleep because I have to tell my fairies that I wouldn't be able to make it unless you woke me up." She blurted out.

That hadn't occurred to them. How long would they spend in Jack's dream? Sandy gestured to Tooth that he would wake her up if they were still asleep by the time night fell around and she agreed before being put to sleep like the rest of the guardians.

Now that they were all asleep, Sandy harvested their dreams and combined them into the already forming dream above Jack's snoozing head. His dream was about a very large ship for some reason. Sandy couldn't make out which ship it was, but it looked as if it was made in the early 1900's and it was massive. The hull of the ship was incredible and smoke puffed out of the top as it glided along the ocean of dream sand.

Sandy guessed that this vessel must be from Jack's early memories from when he first became a guardian. He was pretty sure that they didn't have ocean vessels like that during the colonial times. The sandman sprinkled some extra dream sand over Jack's head just in case and repeated his actions with the other guardians.

/

North stood on a flat iceberg. His thick read coat kept his body warm in the freezing weather. By the looks of the sky and the stars, North estimated it was around midnight. Odd, why would Jack dream about this? That boy was just so unpredictable sometimes but it also made him exciting at the same time.

Winter was always unpredictable and it always had a surprise for you. Weather it was snow or frost on your windshield.

A brisk gust picked up causing North to shiver in his coat. It seemed colder than it should be, as if Jack had done this on purpose. Usually when he was upset or angry about something it became colder. The guardian of wonder looked around for any sign of jack or the others.

All he saw was ice and water. Maybe they were somewhere else?

"Jack! Tooth! Bunny!" he bellowed out in his thick Russian accent.

The only response he received was more frigid air rushing against his face. Was this a sign that Jack was close? Sighing, North realized that he was stuck on this piece of ice. There was no way he was about to go for a swim in waters like these. Despite how calm they were, they were still bitter and arctic. Luckily his island of ice was big enough for his weight.

"North?"

The feminine voice that called his name made North whirl around and he was greeted by the shivering tooth fairy. Her breathe was clearly visible in the chilly air and there was some frost on the tips of a few of her feathers.

"Tooth! Good to see that you've made it."

"Good to see you too North! Have you seen Bunny or Jack?"

"Not yet. Have you?"

"Not since I fell asleep but since we're here at least we know that there's a chance that they made it too right?"

"Yes. Tell me, have you seen any sign of Pitch?"

"Not a trace but I swear if he shows up I'll-"

More wind blew ice around them.

"It's getting colder. I suppose that Jack may be close."

"Why would he be dreaming of a place like this anyway?"

"I don't know, but it's not like we can change it."

North pulled out his twin swords and used them to paddle through the water while Tooth fluttered next to him. Looks like their trek had just begun.

/

Jack was standing on the tip of an iceberg. His cold breath was visible in front of him but for some reason, he felt ominous. It was as if he didn't exist but that was impossible. This is his dream and by the looks of it it's based off one of his memories.

Jack face palmed.

Why this?

Why would it have to be this out of all his memories?

He'd rather have his dream about the blizzard of '68 or be in Africa instead of having to relive the biggest mistake of his life.

Why did he have to dream about when he accidently sank the Titanic?


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: aw yeah 300 reviews :D and congrats on **Cam3910 **for being the 300****th**** reviewer ;D and thumbs up to everyone who guessed it was the titanic before the end of the chapter and I actually had to research facts about the iceberg because I didn't know that much about it :3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Twenty

Jack stood on the tip of the iceberg. The ship hadn't come yet he still had time. Could he change what happened that night? No, of course not. This was a dream, it's not like he was actually sent back in time. Looking around, Jack was actually thankful the guardians weren't here to see him sink the unsinkable ship carrying over a thousand innocent passengers.

Sitting back down on the iceberg, the winter spirit looked up. No moon. The moon wasn't shining that night and the water was still. Every second brought back painful memories of his fluke. Looking below him, Jack's eyes widened as he saw himself fly onto the iceberg.

This was when he was still new to being a spirit.

The other Jack below him looked the same and had the same staff and the same silver hair but instead of wearing a frosted blue hoodie, he had on a thin tan shirt and a brown shawl over it. He wasn't burned by fire and he didn't have dark bags under his eyes. That's right, Jack hadn't gotten his hoodie until decades after he had woken up. Jack flew down to his past self. It felt like he was looking in a mirror. Past Jack was upset so he flew somewhere desolate and current Jack knew exactly why.

He was so lonely. He remembered when he found out that there were other magical beings like him but when he confronted them they didn't even know he existed. "I though Jack Frost was just a myth since when did he come alive?" they said. "I thought Mother Nature made the snow." they said. Jack remembered that feeling of hurt and shock. How he felt invisible to his own kind and how he felt ignored where ever he went.

He remembered when he first met the Sandman and the Tooth Fairy. He remembered when he ran into the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. They didn't know who he was back then, but none of them stuck around to get to know him. Everyone was too busy for him and they all assumed he would find someone else to talk to but oh how wrong they were.

All of those feelings, all of that disappointment caused the winter spirit to fly off, and here he was. Past Jack still didn't know what he was capable of, no one had told him what his feelings could do to his powers and they didn't know either since they never learned anything about him. They all assumed that he had complete control over what he was doing and that he had learned what was right and what was wrong. Still in awe, Current Jack reached out to Past Jack.

"H-Hello?" he whispered. There was no response.

Past Jack just continued to sulk and Current Jack tapped his shoulder but gasped when his hand went through him. The way his hand fell through his past self was like how humans walked through him. Did this mean he didn't believe in himself? No, Jack realized what was going on. He was watching one of his own memories. He wasn't reliving it he was witnessing it.

Everything made sense to him now. No wonder his past self didn't even acknowledge him. Then again, he was really angry that night and he was pretty upset but who wouldn't be? Through all his life Jack had to spend every day alone without being seen or heard. There were days when he'd cause mayhem just to get attention even if it was from someone shouting at him but at least he knew they'd acknowledge him for something right?

Past Jack started tapping his staff against the ice berg angrily.

"No stop!"

But Jack's warning went unheard by his past self. He could only watch in horror as the iceberg grew larger and became sturdier. The surface of the iceberg became clear and glassy making it reflected the dark night sky and water like a mirror. It was almost impossible to be seen from a distance.

"Dang it! Stop it me!" Jack wailed out. He tried to snatch his past self's staff but he only fazed through it. Jack screamed and at kicked himself but once again, Past Jack couldn't hear his future self because his future self was not actually there. Instead, his future self was watching a memory from his past about when he caused one of the worst disasters in history.

/

Past Jack was angry. He was angry at the moon and at those other spirits. How could they think that he wasn't important? Now Jack Frost wasn't the oldest spirit out there and he wasn't the most responsible or the most obedient, but he still had feelings. He remembered that sliver of hope he had when he found out that there were others like him. He thought that he would actually make some friends and that his curse of being lonely and independent would come to an end.

He was wrong.

He shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. He should have never thought that those spirits would try to get to know him. He hated how they could be seen and how children always gaped about what they got from Santa on Christmas or how they got excited over losing a tooth because the Tooth Fairy was going to visit him. Children laughed with joy at what they found on Easter and smiled as they described the types of dreams the sandman gave them. As for his snow and ice, children were told to bundle up by their parents and they were only amused by Jack's creation for a few hours before they got tired and spent the rest of the day avoiding it inside.

Was he jealous?

Was he jealous because children believed in everyone but him? Or was it because they had time for each other and not one of them even batted an eye at him?

Or was it because they had someone there for them?

Past Jack never had anyone there for him. If only he knew that in a few decades, he would go through a wardrobe change and that he would start watching over the house of a young boy and that he would become a guardian and have a family again.

If only he knew that there was a ship heading his way.

/

Bunnymund trembled while standing on a small piece of solid ice. He hated the cold more than he hated how North boasted about Christmas being better than Easter. Out of all the places Frostbite had to dream about, it just had to be iceberg laden waters in the middle of the night. Or was it early in the morning?

Using his boomerangs to wade through the calm water, he searched around for any signs of the other guardians. It was slowly becoming colder so he knew Jack was here somewhere but what about North and Tooth? He slowly padded through the water feeling a bit nervous. He'd never tell anyone, but he was actually pretty restless about this. Bunnymund hated the cold and here he was freezing his paws off while one of his friends could be dying for all he knew or worse.

The Australian shivered again. Dang it why did Jack have to make it so cold?

Up in the distance he could barely see and iceberg coming into view. It wasn't that big of an iceberg, but it seemed different and vaguely familiar. The dark night sky and still water disguised the glassy iceberg as if it was nothing. Looking closer, he saw what looked like a silhouette of a boy. Bunnymund squinted his green eyes. Was that Jack? The silhouette had a blue hoodie and held a wooden staff and his hands and legs were wrapped in bandages it was Jack!

"Hey Frostbite!" he called out. Jack spun around and saw the Easter Bunny on a block of ice.

"Bunny? Is that you?"

"No it's the Tooth Fairy. Yes of course it's me!"

Jack looked at the ocean. It seemed still and calm enough for him to walk on. He placed his foot on the water and a road of frost was created on the surface. Freezing the surface of the water as he walked on it, Jack slowly made his way to Bunnymund. He looked jittery as if something was about to happen and his eyes were full of paranoia.

Jack remembered this night perfectly and he did not want Bunnymund to see it. In fact, he didn't even want to see it. He remembered how North had flown to him once the ship broke apart and sank into the depths of the ocean. North had given Jack quite the scolding that night. He didn't think that side of North existed but he does now.

Glancing over his shoulder, current Jack saw that Past Jack was still on the iceberg using it as an output for all his misery. Bunnymund saw what Jack was focused on and stared dumfounded.

"Is, is that you over there?"

"Um, yes."

"How can you be standing right in front of me if you're over there on that ic-"

Bunnymund stopped mid-sentence. He remembered that there was this one night where approximately 1,516 died when a ship sank. North was doing a test run that night, and he was there to witness it. After that night North had refused to speak of it but as word of the event spread, they all knew it was an iceberg that had caused the ship to sink.

Now E. Aster Bunnymund knew that Jack Frost had done some terrible things. He had frozen roads causing accidents, caused blizzards that wiped out villages, and then there was the blizzard of '68, but Bunnymund had never expected that Jack Frost had sunk the Titanic.

"Okay now before you can start making accusations I just want to point out I am not actually over there that is my past self well, not my human past self but my when I was starting out as a spirit,"

Bunnymund was speechless as Jack rambled on. His eyes were fixated on Past Jack who looked like he was crying. Current Jack noticed that his past self was crying and felt humiliated so he moved in front of Bunnymund to obscure his view of his lonely past self. He didn't want him to see how he acted when he first became a spirit since he was a little over dramatic about it.

"Ok Kangaroo why don't you say we go look for Tooth and North?"

"Uh, sure but don't try anything funny."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Bunnymund walked forward but Jack blocked him with his staff.

"Let's go the other way."

"Why?"

"Because, I already looked over there."

"You were hanging out on an iceberg over there."

"And there is no need for you to in that direction."

Jack knew that the Titanic was coming and he didn't want to see it smash into the iceberg again. He didn't want Bunnymund to see it either but as he kept moving around the Pooka blocking his view and path, he didn't notice that Tooth and North were coming up behind them.

"Hey guys!" Tooth chirped behind them. Jack swung around and saw North was paddling with his swords while floating on a piece of ice with Tooth hovering next to him. Jack zoned out as he focused on North's grim face. Looks like he recognized tonight too. The winter spirit remained silent being lost in thought. He didn't even hear the chatter of Tooth and Bunnymund behind him. This is it.

The Titanic would be here any minute now, and they would all have to witness it. Past Jack was sitting on the tip of the iceberg still upset and his back was turned. Current Jack could see the ship coming into view and he grew restless.

"Okay everyone now that we're all here why don't we get going?"

"Why what's the rush?" Tooth asked. They were all standing with their backs turned on the iceberg. Jack didn't have time to respond before the crashing sound of ice making contact with a ship echoed through the night.

/

**A/N: so hopefully I didn't confuse everyone with this chapter but just to be clear, jack and the guardians are currently in one of jacks old memories from when he was still new to being an immortal and invisible winter spirit. Past jack is from that memory and is the one with the shawl and current jack is the one this story is about. The guardians cant do anything to reach out or touch anyone because they are in a dream and not reality.**

**Now all that stuff up there in the beginning about how lonely jack felt when he first became a magical being is from back when I was 12 and 13 because that was when I was depressed the most and I look back on my past self sometimes and wonder how I ever made it through a year feeling like that and I wish that I could tell my past self that things do get better and that I should stop crying because there are other people who have it worse than me. When I was 13 I had made a noose to hang myself but then I chickened out because it was night and I didn't want to hang myself in the dark because im a wimp like that but that noose is till hidden in my room somewhere and im going to stop rambling about my life and respond to a certain review**

** .18: dear glob when I saw how long your review was I thought I did something wrong but when I read it im glad I was wrong :3 the plot of this story came into my head after I started reading rise of the guardian fanfictions and I thought that this would turn into one of those fics where it seems like a good idea in your head and only a couple people like it but apparently I was wrong since I never expected to get so many reviews and follows and favorites ;) I never thought that I had talent in writing because I always thought I was bad at it so I hid all my stories from everyone because I felt embarrassed when they read it but I guess I was wrong again. Oh and by the way, Im used to being lonely since when I was a toddler growing up there was nobody for me to play with so I would always be that one kid playing board games by herself in the corner and I guess it kinda grew into a habit but writing this fanfic has provided an output for me whenever I was sad or when my parents were angry I would hide in my room just writing out a new chapter and OMG I DID NOT MEAN FOR THIS RESPONSE TO BE SO LONG D:**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: okay now I intended to make the titanic scenes just one chapter but it ended up being waaaaay too long so ive split it up into multiple chapters to keep ya on your toes :3**

**SerenePhenix: I was talking about Jack knowing his way around his powers I guess because even in the movie he did things that he never knew he could do before**

**Guest: ASDFGHJKL lol no im too lame to be anyones favorite author**

**Cjabbott: aww thank you *hugs back***

D**arkblade County: yeah i became depressed when I was 12 and im 14 now but anyway I hope I don't trigger you throughout the story or anything _**

**Kallik's Eternal: Hi Amanda :3**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Twenty One

His name is Jack Frost. He has silver white hair and silver blue eyes. On his shoulders rests a brown shawl from the colonial times that he has worn ever since he woke up. In his hand is a wooden staff similar to a shepard's crook. He is the spirit of winter, and he is so very lonely.

He is the spirit of winter and the iceberg he was sitting on was just struck by the Titanic.

The sudden blow nearly knocked Jack into the water but he was caught by the wind a second before his splash down. He is not the one to go swimming at around 11:40pm with a damaged ship behind him.

A splintering gash was cut into the hull on the side of the ship and it looked around two hundred and forty five feet long. Jack watched in horror as water began to flow into the ship. His body tensed up as he desperately flew around the ship. Anxiously, he tried to patch some of the damage with ice but the ocean water only rushed past it faster than he could freeze the holes shut.

He looked around. What could he do? There wasn't anyone around for miles to help him and Jack barely knew what to do to fix this. On the deck of the ship there were some people. Maybe he could warn them! Flying up to the deck, Jack was stunned at what he saw before him. There were bits of ice on the surface and there were actually little children playing with them. Nobody seemed to be worried that the 'unsinkable ship' was about to sink into the freezing cold water. In fact, they didn't even look worried.

"What are you doing? There is a hole in the ship you have to get off!" he shouted. People only walked through him and he flinched. He remembered no one could hear or see him. What was he going to do?

Jack entered the ship through an open door. He didn't know his way around the ship, but he could read unlike some of the other passengers. Using signs placed on the wall, he navigated his way to the lower class decks.

"Come on wake up!" he shouted while knocking on doors. People were still asleep and there was water up to his ankles. This was not good.

Running down a hall, Jack ignored people bustling about complaining how cold it had gotten whenever he passed them. Venturing further into the ship, Jack could only watch in astonishment at the sight before him. It was late at night so doors were locked and gates were closed. A gate was closed at the exit of the lower class deck sealing people in. They were crammed at the end of the gate crying and pleading for help. It seemed like they were the only ones aware of the flooding besides Jack. If you looked close, you could see the fear and anger in their eyes. The only reason why they were locked up was because they were poor. Nobody had even thought of unlocking the gates to let the poor people get to safety because they just weren't as important as the wealthy people above them.

Little did they know that they were going to be the first to die.

Knowing that he had to do something, Jack kicked and scratched at the metal gate trapping the guests. Frigid water was up to his knees now.

"Okay stay calm I'll try to find another way out." He reassured them knowing that he would go unnoticed by the panicked people. His mind was racing his heart beated with worry. Each second that passed only made him panic more. He was providing little help to solve the problem he had caused.

Going back the way he came, Jack turned his back trying to find another route. He flew up to the first class deck and rushed up the grand staircase. They all seemed very calm about the matter. Then again, the upper class deck was higher up so they probably didn't even know the ship had struck an iceberg. The wealthy guests were at dinner tables laughing and having a good time unaware that some of them would soon die a tragic and watery death.

"You're in danger get out of here!" he screamed. Jack tried pushing passengers to the door but they only fazed through him. Just as he was about to give up on trying warning them, water began to soak in the rugs around his feet. He didn't expect the water to move so quickly and he had never guessed that the ship would already start to be filled with water. Travelers were shaken by the sudden flooding and rose from their tables. Jack followed them as they began rushing to the upper decks.

Half an hour passed before people were getting in life boats and the sounds of the crew bellowing orders was mixed with the sound of children crying. "What are you doing that life boat can fit way more people than that!" Jack yelled. The first life boat was lowered with about twenty eight people in it but what angered the winter spirit was the fact that the life boat wasn't even a quarter of the way full when it was lowered. About forty more people could have gone in that lifeboat but Jack's attention was drawn to something else.

What were they thinking? The lower class was still locked up and the upper class was just now beginning to fret. Jack watched as a family was separated. Tears were streaming from the mother's eyes as she and her children were loaded into a lifeboat while her husband stayed behind.

Jack had been on the ship for an hour and he had done nothing to help. He tried to so hard, but all he did was make people slip on ice or make people huddle together for warmth. A flare was sent up around 12:55 am. Jack saw another nearby ship passing by and flew as fast as he could to them. They were close enough they could help the Titanic!

His hope was yet again crushed when he arrived at the ship.

"Looks like they're shooting up fireworks as celebration."

"Why wouldn't they? The Titanic is a marvel it's unsinkable."

The crew and captain of the passing ship simply ignored the Titanic's urgent cries for help.

"Are you kidding me? They're sinking it's not a celebration go help them!" Jack screeched at the top of his lungs. Frustrated, Jack knew that he could do nothing to tell them the truth. He tried writing in ice on the deck but as soon as someone saw the forming ice they scraped it off. Another distress rocket shot up into the night sky.

Soaring through the air as fast as he could, Jack zipped towards the sinking ship. His brown shawl flapped in the wind as the air brushed his hair back. As he returned to the scene of the disaster, a few more lifeboats were in the water but people were still on board. They did not think that the ship was going to sink, so they stayed watching the paranoia and chaos ensue around them from the surrounding passengers. Were they so ignorant? They weren't even telling other passengers what had happened they just sat there as if everything was normal.

As Jack helped out where ever he could, his efforts were in vain. About an hour passed but to Jack it seemed like seconds. The ship was almost underwater now. He tried so hard, and yet he still failed. Fear froze the spirit to the ship as it was flooded with more water. Trinkets and luggage floated in the ocean along with lifeboats packed with passengers.

This was all his fault.

He had doomed over a thousand men, women, and children to a watery grave and if they didn't sink with the ship, they would freeze to death or drown in the water that was only about thirty one degrees. Jack hovered above the water when the stern of the ship began to crack. He watched as the mighty ship broke in two pieces before sinking into the water. Tears formed in his eyes. Knowing that you're responsible for the most tragic disaster in history would forever be a burden on his shoulders.

The surface of the water was like a graveyard. Frozen bodies littered the surface along with wood, luggage, and whatever belonged to the passengers. A small locket floated near Jack. As silent tears streaked down his face, he bent down and picked it up. He opened it up and it revealed to contain a picture of a family. There was a mother, father, a son, and two daughters. Jack dropped the locket back in the water. Did he tear that family apart? Or did he just make them die together?

He flew over the heads of distraught and devastated passengers sitting in life boats. He didn't know where he was going, but he was going as far away as he could from where the Titanic sank. Jack didn't want to hurt anyone else or freeze anymore people when he's already done enough. Pulling the hood of his brown shawl over his head, Jack curled up into a ball and began to cry as he landed on a pice of ice miles away.

How would he live with himself?

Jack Frost had no friends and his emotions caused him to turn an ordinary block of floating ice into the weapon used to sink the largest ship in existence. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for being a spirit. None of those people had deserved what he had done. It doesn't even matter what they did nobody deserved to witness such a heinous event and none of those souls deserved to die the way they did.

The sound of sleigh bells snapped Jack out of his guilt trip.

He wiped the tears off his face and regained his composition as he turned around. Looking up, Jack's eyes saw that a sleigh was flying through the air directly above him.

Was that Santa Claus?

As flying reindeer pulled the sleigh closer, Jack made out who it was. It was Santa Claus who was flying towards him. Rage was in his eyes and his not so jolly self landed the sleigh on the piece of Jack was standing on. Jack didn't know what was going to happen to him. Was he going to be yelled at? No that was a dumb question of course he was going to be scolded. Whatever punishment Santa had in store for him, Jack he knew that he deserved in completely.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?" barked the spirit with rage in his voice. Jack didn't respond. His head was hung in shame and he averted his eyes from the furious Russian in front of him.

"You just sank the largest ship in existence and killed over a thousand people!"

Jack still didn't respond. He was lost in thought as Santa Claus continued to rant. On the inside he was feeling a mixture of emotions. He was guilty for what he did, afraid because of the scolding he was receiving, self-hate for himself, and sadness. Both of the beings knew that there were families on that ship. Families that died together, families that were forever separated, and families that would have to carry on with the horrific event branded into their minds.

All of his frustration and anger and guilt began to bubble inside his cold body. What he had done was bad enough, but now he was being reminded about it as if he had forgotten. He knew that this was all his fault. He knew that he had killed all of those people. A lump formed in Jack's throat as his eyes began to water.

"You were irresponsible and you made innocent people pay for your carelessness. You're coming with me where we'll have a long talk with Man in Moon."

Finally reaching his breaking point, Jack clenched his fists. He looked at Santa Claus directly in the eyes with a stern look before flying off. Ignoring the angry shouts coming from the Russian, Jack flew farther and farther away where no one would find him and where he wouldn't hurt anyone else.

/

The guardians watched Jack's memory in horror. Tooth was sobbing seeing all of the chaos and drama unfold before them. She never knew Jack could cause so much heartache. Behind them, Jack was curled into a ball with his back facing them and his hood pulled over him obscuring his miserable look.

"What were you even doing here in the first place?" Bunnymund spoke up. He was both angry and sad. Seeing the newest guardian cause all of this misery in one night hadaken the Pooka. He ignored the fact that Jack tried to save people and more on what Jack was doing all the way out here in the first place.

"Well Frostbite?"

"Bunny maybe you shouldn't be so hard on him." Tooth interjected. "I think he's been through enough for today North would agree right North?" she turned to the guardian of wonder. He was lost in thought as his mind pondered on the events he had just witnessed. It occurred to him that he had never let Jack tell his side of the story. He was too angry with the boy to even let him respond. Maybe it was because Jack might have made up and excuse?

In all of the drama Jack remained silent. His knees were pulled up to his chest and on the inside of his hoodie he was silently letting tears flow onto the fabric of his pants. His heart was sinking as his stomach began to knot itself. He had been trying so hard to not think about what he had did but it was so hard not to when people tell you 'you can't change the past.'

/

Sandy was shocked at what he had seen in the dream cloud. He had never seen Jack act like he did when he was flying around the sinking Titanic. In all of his time spent with Jack, he had never seen him so afraid or so upset and yet he still kept himself bundled up on the inside and was still as determined as ever. Sandy looked on the clock hanging on the wall. The guardians had been asleep for a few hours. Night was closing in on them and Sandy kept his promise about waking up Tooth to do her job.

/

Toothiana was the only one to lay a hand on Jack. Bunnymund stood behind him with his arms crossed and North was still feeling a little guilty on how harsh he was on Jack but then again who wouldn't be harsh on the being that killed so many people in just a few hours? If only he had let Jack tell his side of the story or if only he hadn't ignored the winter spirit back then.

"Jack," Tooth said quietly. Her hand moved closer to the upset boy. Jack didn't even flinch when Tooth pulled his hood down and he didn't even bother pulling it back up. It's not like pulling up his blue hood would change anything. He was still sorry for what he had did and hiding his face was only making the guardians more concerned about him.

"Don't be too hard on yourself you didn't know what would happen." She said trying to comfort him. Tears were still housed in her eyes and her heart was shattered in seeing the Titanic sink with so many people still on board. Jack wanted to say that she was wrong. That he deserved to be as hard on himself as he wanted and that he was the one who had made that iceberg able to sink the Titanic. The words seemed to be caught in his throat so he only looked up at Tooth.

He looked at her bright eyes that were filled with comfort and then he moved his gaze to the others. Bunnymund looked at the boy with a stoic look on his face and North's big eyes had the same look as Tooth.

"She's right Jack, everything happens for a reason and what you caused helped improve the way ships are today." North said. Jack and Bunnymund looked at him confused. Bunnymund knew that Jack Frost had messed up quite a few times and that the Titanic sinking was all because of him and now North was telling Jack it was okay? Jack Frost had just caused the death of over a thousand people years ago and now he was being told it wasn't that bad?

Tooth's figure suddenly began to flicker and she started to fade away. Startled, Jack got up. "Tooth what's happening?" he asked. There was fear in his voice and he had no idea what was happening. He had already lost her in a dream before and he didn't want that to happen again.

"Oh! Don't worry Jack I think I'm just starting to wake up,"

"What? Why?"

"Sandy said that he would wake me up when it w time for me to-"

She was cut off as she disappeared completely leaving Jack with North and Bunnymund. Tooth's eye's snapped open and she rose from the bed.

"Sandy why did you wake me up now I was in the middle of something!"

Sandy replied by pointing to the clock.

"Oh that's right! I'm going to be late if I don't get back to the palace soon!"

The sky grew darker and Tooth had to begin collecting teeth right now if she wanted to get to all of the children in time. Hopefully there wouldn't be as much teeth to collect tonight because she was still worried about Jack.

Sandy turned to the three sleeping guardians before him. He knew that he would have to depart soon because if he didn't then Pitch would take over the children's dreams but if he left North, Bunny, and Jack then Pitch might come and turn Jack's dream into a nightmare endangering all of them. Sandy's head raced with thoughts. Was he going to pick protecting the children of the world during their slumber or would he stay here wand watch over the guardians?

/

**A/N: I have to say that Im not too proud on how this chapter turned out. I think I could do better than this and I always have a hard time writing characters like north and bunny but anyway please leave a review so I can see if I failed with this chapter or not**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty Two

Tooth felt so stupid. Why did she have to have a job that required her to constantly leave her friends every night? Jack was so upset and guilty in that dream and she just left. She didn't even say goodbye she just woke up and got to work. You'd think that the guardian of memories would be there with Jack in his time of need but no she had to fly around the planet collecting teeth with her tiny fairy helpers instead.

But still, she had to do this. If she didn't collect teeth then kids would stop believing in her. If children had stopped believing in her, then she would get weak. If she got weak, then she would eventually die. Tooth shuddered when she remembered how weak all of the guardians had gotten when Jamie was the only child left who believed in them.

With her wings fluttering at high speed, the Tooth Fairy flew into Burgess. Luckily the last teeth that needed to be collected were somewhere in the small town. She just had to collect the baby teeth here and then she was done. Her helpers had covered the other continents and they had done it at a record breaking time.

"There's one molar and two incisors over there!" she commanded to her fairies. She pointed to three houses side by side and the tiny fairies zipped off and flew through cracks in the windows. Locating the last baby tooth that needed to be collected, Tooth flew to the Bennett house.

Tooth knew that Jamie stayed up whenever he or Sophie lost a tooth, so she knew that he would be looking for her. Using the dark night to her advantage, Tooth slipped into Sophie's room. The child was fast asleep and was snuggling with a stuffed bunny toy.

Maybe she should have sent one of the mini fairies to get the tooth under Sophie's pillow. As soon as Tooth placed the quarter under Sophie's pillow, she heard footsteps run down the hall.

"Tooth?"

Gasping in surprise, the guardian of memories spun around. Jamie stood in Sophie's doorway with a flashlight and was wide awake. He looked older than the last time she had seen him. Jamie's hair was a bit longer and he seemed about an inch taller. The gap in his mouth from where he had lost a tooth from sledding with Jack was filled by a white new tooth. She looked at Jamie and responded to the awake child.

"Jamie! What are you doing awake at this hour?"

"I wanted to see you to ask you something."

"Can you make it quick? I;m in a hurry."

"Well, where's Jack? I haven't seen him for a while and I'm starting to get worried."

Tooth paused realizing that Jamie hadn't talked to Jack in a couple of months. She couldn't tell that Jack's life was hanging by a thread. He and Jamie were like brothers, telling the younger boy what was happening to Jack would not help the growing child one bit. Quickly, Tooth made up an excuse.

"Oh well...Jack is...busy."

"Doing what?"

"Oh you know, guardian stuff. Its really important with him being new at the job and all."

"Then why aren't you with him? Aren't you a guardian too?"

"Well what he's doing applies to just him since he's a season spirit. Besides, what I do is way different from what he does."

"Oh okay."

Being so young and a bit gullible, Jamie bought Tooth's fib. On the inside Tooth's stomach was filled with butterflies and she mentally sighed. She hated lying to children, especially about something so important as this.

"Do you know when Jack is going to be back?"

Tooth paused.

"Yeah he should be back soon so no need to worry!"

A fake smile made its way onto Tooth's face to reassure Jamie. She actually had no idea when Jack was going to get back to Burgess or even if he would survive his situation. Even if he did get out alive he would still have to recover and he hadn't slept for almost two and a half months now.

Sophie stirred in her sleep while Jamie and Tooth talked.

"You should get to bed Jamie its really late."

"Okay."

Jamie seemed a little disappointed, but he silently tip toed out of the room being careful not to trip over and of Sophie's toys scattered on the floor. As soon as she saw the door close, Tooth flew out of the window before anyone else in the house woke up.

She needed to get back to the pole and into Jack's dream. Who knows what could be happening in there. Seeing Jack so traumatized by one of his own memories had saddened the fairy. If she was supposed to be the guardian of memories, then why couldn't she protect one spirit from one memory?

/

Sandy had made a decision. He formed a large cloud of dream sand big enough to hole all of them. Tooth was taking too long and Sandy had to work now. The small guardian began to move the sleeping bodies of North, Bunnymund, and Jack onto the cloud he was riding on. He obviously couldn't leave them alone and he had to work otherwise children would stop believing in him.

Sandy laid North's and Jack's sleeping bodies on the bed. Now all he had to do was move Bunnymund and he would be all set to go and bring sweet dreams to the children of theworld. Wisps pf golden dream sand began to gather around the dreaming Pooka. Bunnymund was lifted off the bed and into the air when Tooth burst through the door startling Sandy making him bump Bunnymund's head on the floor. Hopefully the Easter bunny wouldn't mind waking up with his head hurting a little.

"Oh sorry." Tooth apologized seeing that she made Sandy drop Bunnymund. "What are you even doing?"

Pictures of children dreaming formed above Sandy's head.

"Oh that's right! You have to go work. Is that why you're moving them?"

Sandy was about to answer when Tooth cut him off.

"Anyway hurry up and put me to sleep! I was in the middle of something with Jack and that was hours ago!"

Sandy could see how desperate Tooth was being about this. She had rushed across the planet trying to collect the teeth more than she usually did and the look in her bright eyes showed how worried she was about Jack.

Not wanting to make her wait any longer, Sandy puffed a handful of dream sand into her face knocking her out and he combined her dream with Jack's. Hopefully she would be in the same spot that she was in before she woke up but if she wasn't Sandy could always try moving her.

/

Tooth woke up back where she was before she left Jack's dream. She was on the exact same piece of ice and the sun was beginning to come up which meant that a day had passed in the dream. With her eyes dashing around the cold setting, Tooth saw that neither of the guardians were where they were previously. Had they moved? Did something happen to them?

"Hey Tooth over here!"

Tooth swung around and saw North waving at her from a large iceberg. There was an indention in the middle of it making it look like a floating ice cave on the water. North stood at the front of it while Bunnymund was behind him kicking at what looked like a slab of ice.

"You're gonna have to come outta there sooner or later Frost!" he yelled at it.

"No! Its my dream I can stay in here as long as I want!" Jack yelled in response. From the way he sounded, he was probably shutting himself off in the ice cave.

Worried about Jack, Tooth flew over to them despite the temperature dropping about five degrees.

"What happened while I was gone?" she asked.

"Bunny said some things and Jack got angry." North answered.

"Why? What did he say?"

Bunnymund hopped over to answer her.

"All I said was that Frostbite had to watch that temper of his and he got all melodramatic over it."

"He was upset! What did you expect?"

"I expected him to act more mature about-"

"Bunny you have to apologize to him!"

"What for?"

"I-I don't know setting him off? You have to be more compassionate at certain moments!"

"What like I'm not? I'm not the one who practically killed over a thousand people just because everyone else was busy!"

Bunnymund clamped his mouth shut. He did not mean to say that. It was just that he was already so mad at Jack and it just slipped out. The air around them became colder and the wind howled around them.

"I-I am sorry I did not mean to say that."

"I think you should tell that to Jack." North said spinning Bunnymund around. Jack had come out of his little cave of self pity and was standing in front of them with his hands grasped tightly around his wooden staff. His puffy eyes glared at Bunnymund as he stood as still and as silent as a statue.

Every muscle of Jack's body was telling him to just fly off and leave them but his heart was telling him no. What Bunnymund had said was true though. The only reason he had gotten upset was because everyone else was too busy for him at the time. Besides, running off like that would only put him in some sort of danger and make everyone worry about him even more and he was still tired from the lack of sleep.

Bunnymund sighed and Tooth urged him to apologize. She was very angry with him saying something like that. It was like when he said Jack didn't exist because he had no believers. North looked at Bunnymund with the same look Tooth had. He knew that Bunny and Jack didn't exactly respect each other and that what Bunny said was true but Jack was already upset and he didn't need to be more sad or angry with himself.

Slowly making his way over to Jack, Bunnymund opened his mouth to apologize but Jack shushed him and held up his hand to him.

"The Kangaroo is right, I did mess up and I'm sorry." he said quiet enough for everyone to hear.

That had silenced all of them. They did not expect Jack to handle the situation like he did. On the inside Jack wanted to cry but no. He would handle this like a responsible spirit.

"Oh Jack," Tooth said before hugging him. Jack still held back his tears even when North wrapped him in a tight embrace nearly crushing the boy's skinny figure. Bunnymund stood behind them giving Jack a sincere look until the young spirit pulled the Pooka into the group hug.

"You're not getting off that easily." he muttered into Bunnymund's tall ears.

/

Sandy was almost done for the night. He had gotten his job done pretty quick in just a few hours. Glancing back at the cloud the other guardians were sleeping on, he smiled seeing them all happy in the dream. His happiness was cut short when a black shadow reached out to him.


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Twenty Three

He appeared from the dark shadows and reached out. Pitch was nearly inches away from Sandy. All he had to do was touch the dream and Jack and the other guardians would be trapped in his nightmare. Suddenly Pitch was met with one of Sandy's whips. Sandy wrapped his whip around Pitch's wrist and swung him to the urban ground below. Pitch grunted as he landed on the roof of a car denting it and making the car alarm go off.

"Good to see you too Sandy," he said with a sarcastic grin on his face. "But I must tell you that you're already too late."

Waning into the murky night, Pitch stalked Sandy. The small golden spirit had his head turned in every direction while still keeping his eyes on the dream cloud his friends were sleeping on. Whatever he did, he could not let Pitch turn Jack's dream into a nightmare. It didn't look like Pitch was going to attack anytime soon, so Sandy let his guard down and turned to the sleeping guardians.

The golden sand above their head was fine. There wasn't a trace of any nightmare sand and their faces didn't look like they were in trouble. Then why had Pitch come here? Is he even still here or did he slip away again? Sandy was about to touch the dream before him when a gray hand snatched at his hand.

"Surprise," Pitch murmured. He tossed Sandy off of the dream cloud and turned his back. If only he saw that Sandy flew back up on a golden manta ray and had his whips out and ready. Edging closer to Jack as he slept, Pitch kneeled down about to shape the dream into his own creation. He was about to tap Jack's forehead before a griffin made from dream sand rammed into his side. That was a new one. Pitch had never seen Sandy attack him with a griffin before.

Sandy swooped down below Pitch and the Nightmare King landed on his back on Sandy's flying manta ray. Glaring daggers at the boogeyman, Sandy didn't even give Pitch a chance to get up before binding his limbs together. Worms of dream sand crawled over Pitch as he squirmed like an insect attempting to escape their clutches. Frustrated at his lack of success, Pitch could only watch as Sandy grinned at him.

"You wouldn't." he snarled at Sandy. A mischievous smile similar to Jack's formed on Sandy's face. He moved Pitch's restrained body into the air and it now floated high above the ground.

"Sandy I swear!"

Looking down, Sandy saw how high up he was holding Pitch. It would be quite a drop if he fell. Pitch began to ease his arm out of the golden chains that bound him while a black knife made out of nightmare sand formed in his hands. Cutting through the dream sand around his body, Pitch noticed that the sun was beginning to rise.

Dawn of Day Eight, Twelve Days remain

Sandy looked at the sun coming up and didn't see Pitch slip away. A black aura began to swirl around Sandy and the other guardians who were unaware that they were in danger.

"You shouldn't have dropped your guard Sandy,"

The perverse voice of Pitch rang in Sandy's ears. He didn't even care about Pitch at the moment. Sandy knew that he had to wake up everyone before Pitch corrupted Jack's dream. Focusing his attention on the dream, Sandy saw that everything was normal. Pitch hadn't made his move yet but why? He should be in Jack's dream so that the guardians can fight him together but instead he was out here with Sandy slipping in and out of the sandman's grasp.

What was he playing at? Was he just trying to stall again so that he could waste more of Jack's precious time? Or was what he was planning something new?

As Sandy was thinking about if he should wake up the guardians or not, a black horse shot past him missing him by inches. More fearlings followed and soon Sandy found himself with his whips out again and protecting the guardians as if they were childrenin a burning building. A horde of fearlings raged around Sandy. The nightmare sand stood out in the morning sky and and light from the sun shone down on the black horses. Their angry red eyes were targeted at Sandy as they moved closer to him.

The onslaught of fearlings only continued as Sandy turned them into dreams. Even though he was out numbered, the fearlings were clearly out matched compared to Sandy. With one touch of his golden whip they would either explode or be turned into a dream. Within each second the number of fearlings dwindled but they kept coming keeping Sandy occupied.

Creeping up behind the defending guardian, Pitch was silent as he began to work on Jack's dream.

/

"What's happening?" Jack asked. The ice around them began to crumble and separate as the sky grew dark. "It must be Pitch." Bunnymund answered. "Everyone stay together!" commanded North. Preparing for and attack, the four guardians gathered on a single piece of ice. Jack tapped the ice with his staff and it grew in size and became thicker.

Tooth used her high position to scout the area. "I don't see anything." she said. Taking a step forward, everyone was scoping around for anything suspicious. They were spread apart on the one piece of ice but stayed withing each others reach.

North's big eyes saw nothing that could be related to Pitch. His grip on his sword tightened. Every moment of suspense only made them more cautious. Just as they were about to let their guard down, a spike of black sand shot up from the center of the ice splitting it. They all turned to see Pitch staring at them from the top of his pillar of nightmare sand.

"Don't even think about it Pitch!" Bunnymund called from below. "We've had enough of you and you're not gonna do any more harm."

"Oh you've had enough of me now? I thought that we were getting along just fine accounting that you've left Jack so vulnerable to me for so long."

Tooth flew up to Pitch and spun around kicking him in the face and knocking him off his column.

"Don't you dare harm Jack or anyone!" she yelled at him. Pitch landed on the hard ice with a nosebleed. The other guardians surrounded him as Tooth flew down to join them. The tip of North's sword was only a pinprick way from Pitch's throat.

"Now listen up, we can either do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"I prefer my way."

Pitch snapped his fingers and fearlings appeared from the water and pinned them all down. Wiping off some of the blood from his nose, Pitch hopped onto a black stallion to give his orders.

"Attack!"

As soon as fearlings began to charge at them, Bunnymund kicked at the ones holding him down. He threw his boomerangs and freed everyone else and they sprung into action. Pitch saw that his fearlings were being taken down with ease as they were exploding and being cut apart or frozen. A sudden tap on his shoulder startled him and he swung around to become face to face with Jack.

The boy was giving Pitch a menacing look but he just looked kinda stupid doing it with dark bags under his eyes.

"Hello Pitch,"

Cold wind blew Pitch over and Jack leaped after him. Even though he hadn't slept for a long time, Jack was fighting Pitch surprisingly well. He swung his staff at Pitch's head but the nightmare king ducked and gave a low blow to Jack's legs knocking him over. Jack winced when Pitch had kicked his legs. The bandages were still wrapped tightly around his legs and hands. He had forgotten that he was still recovering from being burned in hi last nightmare but jack didn't have to waste before a fearling almost stomped on his chest. Tooth came to his aid and slashed the fearling with her wings before it could do any harm.

"Thanks Tooth,"

"Jack look out!"

Jack spun around just i time to freeze a charging fearling. It froze just inches away from his face.

"Like I said, thanks."

"No problem."

A few minutes passed before there were barely any fearlings left. "Is it just me, or is this getting easier?" Bunnymund asked while he caught his boomerang. North kicked another fearling before responding.

"Pitch must be using this as a diversion."

"Yeah but still we've only been fighting for a few minutes and it looks like we've already won."

"Don't be so sure just yet."

Taking down the last of the weak fearlings, the guardians stood on a graveyard of black nightmare sand. Usually when fearlings died the nightmare sand they were made of would vanish but for some reason it was just lying on the ice. They all noticed that Pitch was nowhere to be found snd Bunnymund kicked up some nightmare sand in frustration. "That coward!" he yelled out.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. Remember, I am in control of Jack's dreams." Pitch said.

The guardians looked for the source of Pitch's voice but they came up empty handed. Just then the sky began to crack and the ocean began to drain as more pillars of nightmare sand rose from the ice separating the guardians. A thick grey fog swirled in the air obscuring the vision of everyone except Pitch who was the ringleader of the nightmare.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: hey i had some christmas stuff to do but im back with another chapter :D  
**

** : omg i knew people older than me read this but i never expected a college kid to be so interested in this! and i would be honored if you made fanart as long as i get to see it :3 and dont worry about me not finishing this fic i have the whole thing written out already**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty Four

The last of the fearlings disintegrated and Sandy panted. He must have been fighting for at least two hours against a nonstop storm of nightmares. But he couldn't rest yet, because the dream that the guardians were in had turned black while Sandy's back was turned. Rushing over, Sandy touched the dream cloud but only some spots turned golden. The area around Jack was still black and no matter how hard he tried, he could not turn it into a dream. Pitch must have put a spell on Jack while he was sleeping because his dream self seemed to be the only one in distress.

Jack's dream self was turning his head in every direction in the dream as if he couldn't see anything and the other guardians were doing the same. It looked like they were surrounded by a dense fog that churned around them. Sandy stuck his finger into the dream fog and began to swirl the fog making it spread out.

/

Jack flew up higher to see if he could spot anyone. He hovered above the fog Pitch had caused and was now in the dark eerie sky. Since Pitch's arrival in the dream, Jack didn't know if the others had disappeared into the fog or if they were somewhere else and they had become separated again. Speaking of Pitch, where was he? One second his voice filled the air and the next thing Jack knew Pitch had vanished.

Was he even still here? Maybe he had just caused a false alarm to trick the guardians like when he tricked Jack into destroying all of the Easter eggs. Jack searched the area with his eyes. He saw that the fog Pitch had brought had begun to swirl like a hurricane. It spiraled into on place lifting off from the area Jack was in. He watched as it turned into a funnel and then it just disappeared into the clouds.

That was weird.

"Hey Sandy was that you?" Jack shouted into the sky. Golden cursive letters began to form words in the air as the sky around it returned to its light blue color. "Yes and you're welcome." The words spelled. At least he thought that was what it said. Sandy's cursive letters were slanted and looked old fashioned which meant Jack could hardly read them. There were people who had written like that back in the colonial time but Jack barley remembered anything from his past human life.

Jack shook his head and focused on where the other guardians had disappeared to. He was sure that they were with him in the fog before it had cleared. He had heard their voices. Were they even there at all? Or was their presence just part of the dream? Unless they were swept away with the fog? No, Sandy wouldn't accidentally do that, he would make sure that no one was in the fog before turning it into a funnel and making it disappear. Shaking that silly idea out of his head, Jack made up more ideas of where everyone went.

Did they wake up? Did they just leave him without saying goodbye? Were they floating on distinct pieces of ice? Jack had seen Pitch break the ice so maybe that was the case. Still, there was a chance Pitch was still in the dream which meant that he could attack Jack at any time. He could be waiting in the shadows cast by glaciers or he could be watching Jack right now from a distance.

"We're finally alone together Jack,"

The unexpected sound of Pitch whispering into Jack's ear sent a shiver up his spine. The startled spirit swung around and the hilt of his staff made contact with Pitch's chest smacking him and causing the taller spirit to stumble back.

"Listen up Pitch! I am and sick and tired of all of your tricks!"

"Really? Jack Frost, the naughtiest soul who ever lived, is tired of my antics? Has it ever occurred to you that everyone is tired of your tricks instead? Always freezing water and making everyone cold and killing off so many plants and people like during the Titanic."

Jack tightened his grip while he glared at Pitch trying to ignore the truth spewing from the nightmare king's mouth.

"I'm not falling for any more of your stupid guilt trips this time,"

Pitch smirked.

"It's about time Jack, I thought that you would never learn."

Becoming impatient, Jack made the first move and tapped his staff against the ice Pitch was standing on. Wisps of clear and crystallized ice formed from the surface around Pitch but with a wave of his arm, Pitch smashed them and they scattered in a million tiny pieces. Jack shot a beam of ice but it only contorted away from Pitch.

"My dear boy, I think that you're forgetting you're in my realm of dreams."

The ocean turned black and they sky turned dark once again. Where was Sandy? Couldn't he do something to stop this?

"I'm very disappointed in you though. I thought that you were better than this but you're just acting like a little brat on a playground running around and spoiling everything. It's only a matter of time before you spoil everything for the guardians and they leave you back to isolation just like on Easter."

"Both of us know that I'm not afraid of that happening anymore."

Jack was right. The guardians are better than that which meant he had nothing to worry about. Pitch knew that all of Jack's fears and worries were beginning to fade as well and he had to do something to waste his time. The boy only had about twelve days left right? He was weak and tired and worn down on the inside and outside but that wasn't good enough. As aggressive thought popped into Pitch's dark and devious mind as he thought of how to stall Jack until his time was up.

"Oh I am quite aware of that, too bad you're not aware of your surroundings."

"What do you-"

All of the air was knocked out of Jack's chest as he received a painful blow from Pitch. He would definitely get a bruise later but he didn't have time to worry about that now because he was just knocked into the water.

/

Bunnymund got up from the patch of ice he landed on. One minute he was with everyone else in a thick fog created by Pitch, the next thing he knew he was swept off his feet. Sandy must have cleared the fog but accidentally separated the guardians by mistake. He was probably rushing since Pitch could have done anything to Jack in that fog and the guardians would barely notice a thing.

The Australian shivered when a cold wind blew past him. Where was he anyway? There wasn't any way Bunnymund could measure how far away he was from the closest ally even if he knew if he was close to someone. Well it looks like he's back to square one. Pulling out his boomerangs, Bunny paddled through the cold water while remaining on his little island of ice. This was going to take a while if he wanted to find Jack, North, or Tooth.

/

Sandy face palmed. He just flung the guardians in separate directions when he made that fog disappear. North and Tooth seemed like they were close by each other and Bunnymund didn't seem that far away from them. What worried Sandy the most was the fact that he couldn't see Jack. Just a few seconds ago he was battling Pitch and Sandy looked over to see where the other guardians had landed but when he looked back to Jack he was gone.

Did he fall in the water?

Sandy prayed that Jack hadn't fallen in the water. Jack probably couldn't swim and who could blame him since the last time his body was submerged in water he drowned under a frozen lake. Sandy glanced at Jack's sleeping body. He wasn't coughing up water or choking or anything. His body was simply just sleeping. Looking closer into the dream sand, Sandy saw the tiny form of Jack rise up.

/

Pitch was astonished. He had not expected the winter spirit to rise out of the water so quickly. In fact, he didn't think Jack would come out of the water period. He thought that Jack would just panic in the water and drown but that was not the case.

Oh well. It didn't really matter anyway. Pitch still had a plan to use up Jack's time and it was so simple. As Jack made his was back onto the piece of ice, Pitch readied himself. He still had a trick up his sleeve that he was sure Jack and the other guardians would love.

Jack's soaking wet body flopped onto the ice like a seal. His silver white hair drooped in front of his face and his hoodie had become heavy with all of the water it had absorbed. Water on his pants had turned them from tan to brown and the bandages wrapped around his healing hands and feet were slipping off. He hastily stood back up and made direct eye contact with his antagonist.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to stop me," he sneered.

"I was hoping so, otherwise this would be all to easy and quite boring."

Jack waved his staff and a blizzard formed around them. The bitter air nipped Pitch's nose and snowflakes did a ballet around them. Pitch could see his breath and the water that soaked Jack had turned into frost making his clothes almost entirely white. As Jack's storm continued on around them, it became harder for Pitch to see Jack who was camouflaged in the blizzard. This would have been easier if Jack's hoodie was still blue and not bleached by frost. Pitch continued to spin around for any sign of Jack while nightmare sand formed a tiny black dagger hidden away up his black sleeve.

Pitch's inner thoughts were interrupted when the hook of a wooden stick slammed abruptly against his legs knocking him onto the hard ice. Pitch grunted as he was once again smacked by Jack's staff and he slipped on the newly formed ice Jack made under his feet.

"Who's unaware of their surroundings now?" he teased.

Jack was about to hit Pitch with his staff again when Pitch's hand grabbed the wooden staff and pulled Jack forward. The fallen winter spirit didn't even have a chance to retaliate before a black dagger was thrust into his stomach.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: hey you guys :3 i just realized that this is the 25th chapter meaning that there are only a few chapters left D:**

**oh yeah and i seriously dont know if the plural of 'yeti' is yeti or yetis :I  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty Five

Sandy was at Jack's side in less that a second. He had heard the boy scream out in pain and then he went silent. When the guardian saw Jack, his eyes widened in fear when he saw Jack's stomach bleeding. Then his heart skipped a beat as a gash was cut down the side of Jack's leg ending at his knee. The wounds didn't seem that deep but they were still a major priority. With his heart racing, Sandy applied pressure on the stab wound while looking around for options. He wanted to wake up Jack and get him out of his nightmare but he also didn't want to worsen his condition. If he laid a finger on Jack's cold skin the boy would suck in as if Sandy's fingertips were a threat.

Jack's face was twisted in agony and pain and his teeth were clenched while his eyes were squeezed shut. They were still flying above the city, which meant that they were nowhere near the infirmary at the North Pole. There wasn't a hospital around which meant that Sandy had to fly everyone's sleeping body back. His decision of bringing the sleeping guardians with him was now proving to be foolish because Jack would have to wait hours before he could receive any medical help.

Knowing that he had to stop the bleeding somehow, Sandy got creative with what little he had. Jack's pants were already torn, it wouldn't matter if they became ripped right? They could always make Jack a copy of his pants like they did with his hoodie and besides, it was for an emergency.

Sandy carefully pulled Jack's pants off and using his dream sand to form scissors, he began to cut the cloth into strips. He discarded the blood stained fabric and used the clean ones to wrap around Jack's leg and stomach. It didn't seem to be affective since blood was still seeping out of Jack staining everything around him, but it was the only thing he could do. Sandy didn't have any medical supplies with him and he couldn't wake up Jack no matter how hard he tried. It pained Sandy at seeing Jack like this. It seemed like every few days the young spirit would go through his own personal torture ans no one could help him.

He didn't want to look away from Jack for a second, but he knew that he had to. Sandy turned his back on the injured spirit and rummaged through the pockets of North who was unaware of the events unfolding. Pulling out a small magical snow globe, Sandy had to face his next challenge. How could he command it where to go if he couldn't talk?

/

North scanned the area with his eyes. He was concerned about what had happened to everyone after the fog had separated them and then vanished. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he noticed that his body began to flicker like a light bulb about to die. "Hm?" he said looking at his hands in front of them as they began to fade. "Am I waking up?" he wondered to himself. Why would he be waking up? He was sure that it was early in the day where they were sleeping and they were all supposed to be in the dream helping out Jack where ever they could. Well, they weren't much of a help to him right now but they still had to try to look for him.

Did something go wrong? Is he just waking up on accident? What does Sandy need?

In the blink of an eye North disappeared from Jack's dream and woke up lying on a bed of dream sand floating high above a small town. The sun was up and the other three guardians were still asleep.

"What is it Sandy?" he asked. Sandy thrust the snow globe into North's hands and a picture of Santoff Clausen formed above his head as well as a few exclamation points.

"What happened is something-" North became silent as he looked over to Jack's body. He was becoming paler every second while his teeth and hands were clenched as if he was fighting back tears. Fresh blood was gushing out of a thin opening in Jack's leg and there was a small pool of blood under him as if someone had twisted a dagger into his stomach. His half healed burns were nothing compared to this and his breathing was slowing down while his clothes were being tinted with his blood and what happened to his pants? North whispered something in Russian under his breath as he looked over to Sandy.

"Right, to the North Pole!" North commanded into the magic snow globe as he opened a portal in the air. Sandy wasted no time in transporting the clouds of dream sand they were on through the rift and into the infirmary of the North's workshop.

"Move him onto one of the beds but be very careful."

Sandy nodded and gently rose Jack's sleeping body onto a bed. Jack seemed to wince in pain when his body was moved but his head turned left and right as he was trapped in his nightmare. North had been anxious about Jack ever since they found out that Pitch was torturing him, but now he was feeling a concoction of emotions. There was fear, anxiety, worry, sadness,shock, and anger. How dare Pitch do this to Jack. How dare he harm the newest and youngest guardian like this.

North couldn't let his emotions get the better of him right now, Jack needed all of the medical attention he could get. Calling in specially trained medical yetis, North barked orders to them. Sandy watched as his makeshift bandages were removed from Jack's body. He may have just wasted Jack's pants, but Sandy had woken North up and he did inform him that they needed to get to the infirmary. Sandy didn't even think about Tooth and Bunnymund who were still asleep. They were completely unaware as they slept in a corner on the floor where Sandy had landed the dream sand.

Jack's wounds were still bleeding and he wasn't waking up. All they could do was wipe away his blood unless they patched him up in the dream. Even if they did that there was no telling what would happen to him.

/

"Pathetic." Pitch said tossing Jack's bleeding body onto the ice. It would take a few days for Jack to recover and he only had a few days until his mind was weak enough for Pitch to control. Jack grunted as Pitch gave Jack a swift kick in the ribs.

"Oh and here's a message for the other guardians, tell them that they must remember that I control your fate now."

Jack was in too much pain to speak. His stomach felt as if someone had shoved a smoldering hot railroad spike into him and his leg felt like it was being stabbed by a thousand needles. He could feel his sticky red blood cover his clothes like paint. The sky turned black and the waters became angry. Pitch ascended as the piece of ice Jack was bleeding on was struck by a wave. His body was like clothes in a washing machine as wave after wave of water thrashed around Jack. In all of his suffering, Jack did his best to keep a hand on his staff. He clinged onto it for dear life as Pitch made his dream torture him.

Jack cringe when his body slipped off the ice and into the water. He could only move one leg and his arms were sore and tired. His blood mixed with the ocean and Jack could feel the salty water sting every inch of his injured body.

Up above him Pitch was smirking as he watched Jack's body being thrown around in the ocean as if he was nothing. He out did himself this time. Jack was completely defenseless while tumbling through the ocean and there wasn't a guardian in sight. The guardian of fun was at the mercy of the nightmare king. Still, Pitch didn't want to antagonize Jack that much. He still needed Jack in one piece for his plan and if he killed him now it would be ruined. Besides, Jack only had twelve days left. That was a little bit over a week. With a snap of his fingers Pitch made the waters calm again. Blood dissolved into the deep blue as Jack floated on the surface like a piece of driftwood.

His entire body ached with each breath and he was too tired to panic so Jack was just laying in the water. Funny, he'd never thought that the only time he would be calm in such a vast amount of water would be after an attack by his enemy in his own dream. Jack barely had enough energy to even keep his fingers curled around his thin wooden staff. It was a miracle it hadn't snapped yet.

Blood continue to seep through Jack's clothes as he drifted away. He didn't even know where the current would lead him, but he hoped it would lead him to one of the guardians. Jack didn't care which guardian found him as long as they would help him. Still, Jack didn't want any of them to see him like this. Half of the blood was probably drained from his body making his skin as white as the snow he would bring.

Lost in his thoughts, Jack didn't notice that his staff was being carried away in the water.

/

Toothiana flew aimlessly through the dream. "Jack? North? Bunny? Can anyone hear me?" she yelled out. She had never been so frustrated in her life. Why did Pitch have to ruin everything? Tooth swore that the next time she saw Pitch, she would have to bring more quarters for all of the teeth she would knock out of him.

Flying over the endless ocean, something caught her eyes. Flying lower, Tooth gasped as tears formed in her eyes. Floating alone on the surface, was Jack's wooden staff.

She snatched it up out of the water. It felt so limp and weak and fragile as if it would shatter if it was dropped. If his staff was here, then Jack couldn't be that far right? Her heart felt like it would burst as Tooth's eyes looked around for any sign of Jack. She looked for a hint of his blue hoodie or for a sliver of his silver white hair or for a sign of his tan pants.

Tooth felt like she was about to cry over how worried she was. Her heart had shattered and the more she searched for Jack the more he was without his staff.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: omg so i just saw another article on how rotg is failing at the box offices and i dont know how its doing now but holy snop i havent been this anxious since i posted the first chapter of this fic seriously i keep shaking because i dont want rotg to fail D:**

******fluddershy: im not even going to tell you if hes going to die or not to keep everyone on their toes** and im evil like that ;3  


**TheGuardian-sOfTheFishbowl: heh, i like your username :3  
**

**Tzapporah: he was hurt in the dream so yeah**

**Rangerapprentice: yeah i am getting pretty close and not to be rude or mean or anythin, but can you uh, not use the words "you're" and "cutting" together not that im being mean to you but um, i just uh, recently stopped doing self harm and when i read those words together i got a little tense for a second but otherwise youre fine and i enjoyed your review it was just that part and um, yeah ill shut up now :I  
**

Chapter Twenty Six

Hope.

That was all he could do.

His staff was gone and he was alone and injured.

He was just floating on the surface all alone. It did not seem like there was a living soul around him for miles. Half of the blood in his body was probably gone and he was so light headed. His vision was blurry and every breath he took sent a sharp pain through his body.

Is this how it should be?

Jack Frost had always caused mischief and no one even believed in him except for maybe seven kids that would only grow up and stop believing in him. Well, maybe not Jamie but everyone grows up until they don't believe in things like the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.

Maybe he deserved this. To be cast out into open water that would carry his weak body where ever it wanted. No one to scold him, no one to help him just like when he first woke up from the lake.

He was scared.

In all his life, Jack had never been in a situation like this. He was so tired and so weak now. He desperately wanted to pass out from all the blood he loss but he couldn't. Why didn't Sandy do something yet? Couldn't he at least make the water flow towards someone?

Jack stared up at the dark sky above him. He was like a snowflake drifting through the wind. A very bloody snowflake. A very lonely snowflake. A snowflake that wouldn't be landing anytime soon but would still melt away. No, Jack wouldn't die so soon right? He still had a little bit over a week left he and the guardians still had time to figure something out. Their plan of going together into Jack's dream had obviously failed but they could think of something else. Maybe the next time Pitch paid them a visit Sandy could do something.

The guardians, his family.

Where were they? Were they okay? Did Pitch do something to them as well? Jack prayed that they weren't attacked like he was. He never stood a chance against Pitch when his environment fought against with the nightmare king. Jack let of a sigh and his entire body felt like someone impaled him with hot bullets. He lost all of the feeling in his leg a long time ago but if someone didn't find Jack soon he would bleed out. How much blood was in his body anyway?

He was a magical being, so did that affect the amount of blood being pumped by his cold heart? All of this had never occurred to Jack. There was still so much he didn't know about himself or his own kind. The moon still wasn't speaking to Jack even after he became a guardian and proved himself and witnessed his own death. Did he do something wrong? Well, besides making people slip on ice, create blizzards that would make people starve or freeze to death, make snow days that would make the roads too dangerous to drive on, freeze water pipes, ruin holidays, attempting to break into North's workshop for a few years, etc.

Wow.

No wonder he was on the naughty list. Wait, was he on the naughty list when he was still human? Jack remembered that he died on Christmas so was a lump of coal still placed in his stocking? Jack didn't mind getting coal for Christmas though, it would always go into the fireplace. That must have been rough for his family, losing their only son on a day that was supposed to be jolly and happy.

Jack began to cough up some blood. How could he have not died from blood loss yet? Was it because Pitch still needed him? Or was it because MiM was letting Jack live through this severe mental and physical pain? Jack cringed as the wind began to change the current. It knew that Jack was in no condition to fly, so it just pushed his body where it needed to go. Where was the wind taking him? Where ever it was, it had better be good.

/

Bunnymund shivered. Another frigid breeze blew past him as he paddled through the water. It had gotten so quiet and still and peaceful as if everything was at ease. Bunnymund was not at ease though. He had seen a few waves off in the distance thrash around and that was where he was heading. Bunnymund put his boomerangs away and began hopping from one piece of ice to another. The first time he slipped and fell back on his tail but he got up quickly and carried on.

The pieces of ice were starting to get larger and closer together as Bunnymund traveled on them. Every muscle in his body was trying to keep him balanced on the slippery wet ice. How does Jack even skate on this stuff anyway? The boy was always barefoot didn't he feel anything? Well, at the moment Jack wasn't actually barefoot since he still had bandages wrapped around his feet and hands but still when he was fine he would walk barefoot on ice and snow as if it was nothing.

Off in the distance, Bunnymund saw something lying on the surface of the water. It was small, thin, and red. What worried the pooka the most was that it wasn't moving. No, this couldn't be Jack. He hated the water and never went anywhere without his staff. Besides, Jack couldn't have gotten himself into trouble in just a few minutes right?

Bunny continued to deny that the figure floating in the water was Jack as he moved closer and closer along the ice. "Frost?" he called out. "Jack is that you?" so much for denying it was Jack.

There was no response.

Bunnymund's nose twitched as he smelled fresh blood mixing with the salty ocean water. His stomach churned the closer he got to Jack. It was official, this crimson stained figure floating in the water was none other than the bringer of winter himself, Jack Frost.

He couldn't open a tunnel because water would just flood into it but that didn't mean Bunnymund couldn't try to get Jack onto the ice. Taking out his boomerangs, Bunnymund began to paddle to Jack. The closer he got the closer he was to getting Jack out of the water. The boy hated being in water, but he was so calm right now. His tired eyes were half closed and his skin was as white as a ghost. His clothes were stained with blood and half of his leg was cut open.

This was not good. No this was not good one bit. Reaching out, Bunnymund grabbed onto Jack's hood and began to pull him in. Jack winced at the sudden movement and he let out a whimper of pain as his frail body was hoisted onto a piece of ice. He was soaking wet but that didn't stop Bunnymund from examining his injures.

"H-hey K-Kangaroo,"

The sound of Jack's quiet and raspy voice startled Bunnymund. A small trickle of blood trailed from the corner of Jack's mouth as he tried to speak again but he was shushed by the other guardian. It was a good thing Toothiana didn't find Jack like this. She would be heartbroken seeing her precious little winter spirit so hurt and so helpless. Not to mention she might become sick seeing all of the blood and gore.

Bunnymund clenched his paws tightly. He swore that the next time he saw Pitch-no, Jack was his biggest priority at the moment. Looking over the smaller boy's body, Bunnymund reassured him everything would be alright.

"D-Don't worry Jack, you'll be alright. You just need to be wrapped up a little,"

"N-No,"

"Jack you really shouldn't speak-"

"I-I'm n-not going to be o-okay a-am I?"

"Of course you will Jack-"

"You o-only c-call me Jack when y-you're worried about me."

Bunnymund became silent as Jack did his best to crack a smile.

"I-I knew you cared."

Those were his last words before finally shutting his eyes and going silent.

"Jack? Jack come on! Frost wake up!"

He wasn't really going to die in a dream right? Not in front of Bunnymund. Jack Frost wasn't going to die in front of the Easter Bunny right?

Jack coughed up a few drops of blood before smiling.

"G-Gotcha."

Even though Jack needed extreme medical help, Bunnymund scowled.

"I swear there is a time and place for everything." he muttered. Evem though Jack's prank had almost given Bunnymund a heart attack, he was actually relieved it was just a joke. Even when his body was as damaged as this, Jack Frost still played jokes on those around him. Tears began to form in both of their eyes but neither of them let them fall.

Lifting up Jack's hoodie (which was soaked in blood and water), Bunnymund saw the stab wound in the center of Jack's lower body. The kid must have been real stubborn and determined to hold on this long. He would have passed out by now if he wasn't in a dream. Picking up Jack's hands, Bunnymund moved them over the wound. They were colder than usual, they were colder than the ice or the snow or Pitch's personality and they were rapidly growing colder and they were becoming lighter.

Jack winced as Bunnymund applied pressure on his stomach. His insides felt like they were being filled with melted metal and twisted into balloon animals.

"Maybe Sandy will wake us up soon." the pooka said to Jack. "He has to,"

Both of them knew that it would take a few days for Jack to heal until he was well enough to even sit up on his own or even walk without limping. The boy would spend at least three days in bed plus two extra days because Tooth or North would probably force him to rest. That was about five days he would most likely spend in a bed in the infirmary.

Twelve days minus five is seven. Seven days makes up one week. One week, on hundred and sixty eight hours until Pitch would be able to break Jack and infiltrate his mind and trap the boy in nightmares.

Bunnymund knew that the more time they spent in the dream the more time would be wasted. This is what Pitch was planning all along. Torture Jack with nightmares for a few months until he reached his breaking point and Pitch could trap Jack in nightmares forever and steal away his consciousness.

/

Toothiana was lost. She had been flying around clutching onto Jack's staff while trying to find the boy. Why couldn't Sandy help her and give her a sign? Was he busy doing something else? It took Tooth a moment to realize how warm it had become. It seemed to be around sixty or sixty five degrees now.

This only worried her. The cool wind had died down and some of the ice began to melt. Jack always made it cold and he always froze any liquid he touched. Was he in peril? Was he hurt? Tooth didn't think she could handle seeing Jack hurt again. She had seen enough thev day she saw that there was a gash on his arm when he came to that meeting.

The wooden staff in here hands just seemed like a simple stick to her. Toothiana flew over ice caps and hovered over the ocean but she didn't see a single sign of Jack or Bunny or North. Who knew this dream could be so big. There were miles and miles of water and ice and not a single spec of grey fur or tan pants or a red coat.

Tooth's head snapped up when golden cursive letters were beginning to write in the sky. Sandy was tell her something and she hoped that it was directions on where her friends were. Her heart sank as she read the message;

_Jack is hurt, I'm waking you up._

/

Tooth snapped awake with a startle. She was in the infirmary with everyone else. She pushed past yetis and elves crowding around a bed and nearly broke into tears at what she saw. Lying on the bed, was Jack in an even worse condition than before. He leg was wrapped tightly and a few patches of blood were seeping through but his lower body was wrapped in bandages as well. There was a little blood coming through the medical bandages but it didn't seem that fatal on the outside. SHe couldn't see what Jack's wounds were, but she didn't want to know.

What was the most heart breaking were the two IV's attached to Jack's paler than usual body. Blood was being pumped into his veins and the dark bags under his eyes were as black as nightmare sand. Jack was still wide awake but his eyelids were drooping while North, Bunny, Sandy, and a few elves and yetis were surrounding his bed all of them so very anxious. Tooth covered her mouth with her hands and leaned down to Jack's side. She didn't even notice that Jack's staff was in the corner of the room.

North laid a comforting hand on Tooth's shoulder as her eyes scanned the appalling sight before here.

"He will be alright as long as he doesn't move around too much." he said. "Jack just needs to stay in bed for a few days." North was just as upset as Tooth was but they would not lose any hope yet.

Tooth nodded in response as the tears from her eyes began to streak down her face. Not baring to see Jack like this any longer, she flew out of the room. She looked out the window as she cried over what was happening. She didn't even hear Sandy come through the door. He was just was upset as her and he was the reason why they became separated in the dream and he couldn't help Jack when Pitch attacked him. A large amount of guilt rested on Sandy's shoulders.

He was silent as he moved towards Tooth. She gasped and spun around when she felt a small hand touch her. Sandy stared at her with a look of guilt and comfort. He opened his hands to her and Tooth took the offer. She had to bend down to cry into his shoulder, but that didn't matter.

"H-How could this be happening?" she said to him. "Why does this h-have to happen to Jack why not one of us?"

Sandy rubbed his hand in circles on her back. Tears were coming from his eyes as he did his best to comfort Tooth but it's kind of a challenge to comfort someone when you can't even say soothing words to them. All he could do was provide a shoulder for her to cry on. He couldn't blame her for being so upset either. She was very motherly towards Jack and seeing him like this is like forcing a mother to watch her child be tortured.

It was hard for all of them seeing the youngest of them all go through so much pain and stress right now only this time, he wasn't alone.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: oh wow this fanfic is almost at 500 reviews i wasnt expecting that :0**

**now this chapter is giving everyone a break from all the pain and agony so its like comical relief because i dont want this fic to be too serious if thats okay but im the author so yeah welcome to chapter 27 and expect humorous antics :I  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty Seven

Day Nine, Eleven Days Remain

Jack groaned again. He hated whenever he got hurt because he was stuck in be all day with nothing to do only this time, he had needles sticking out of his arms pumping blood into him and all he was allowed to do was lay on his back. The guardians would visit him whenever they could and Tooth almost never left his side. Sandy would often put on a show in the room with his dream sand for Jack to watch and to take his mind off of how tired he was or to distract his mind whenever his pain medication wore off. North would tell the boy tales of his adventures from his human life wich always enthralled Jack because they were always daring and exciting.

There were some nights when Bunnymund visited Jack hoped he wouldn't stay long because sometimes Bunnymund's fur would shed off on Jack's bed and he would rub his eyes and sneeze a little. At the moment it was in the middle of the day so North and Bunny were preparing for their holidays coming up in a few motnhs but Sandy and Tooth were in the room with him.

"Guys I am so bored here."

"Do you want Sandy to do something with his dream sand?"

"Maybe later."

It wasn't that Jack didn't like Sandy's performances, but it was just that seeing all that dream sand would make him feel more sleepy. Tooth had calmed down enough to be in the room with Jack but that did not mean she wasn't suffering from the inside seeing him like this. He could barely do anything that wouldn't case him blistering agony and only one day has passed . All he could do was lie on his back in the bed and look around either feeling exhausted or aching from the pain from his not fully healed wounds.

Tooth noticed that Jack looked like he was about to fall asleep and she nudged Sandy."Get the water pistol." she mumbled in his ear. Sandy nodded. This had become a routine for all of them. Whenever they would see that Jack looked like he was about to drift off, they would spray his face with ice cold water using one of the water pistol toys from the workshop. It may annoy Jack but it was effective.

Sandy quietly shuffled to the edge of the room where the water pistol rested on a table while Tooth distracted Jack to make sure that he would be surprised when Sandy squirted him with water.

"So Jack,"

"Yes?"

"Um, how have you been?"

Jack gave her a suspicious look.

"Well you know,"

He yawned again.

"Tired."

"Alright,"

Tooth shifted uncomfortably not knowing what else to say. Jack noticed that Tooth suddenly became more uneasy than she was and that she was being silent.

"Hey Tooth are you okay?"

"What? Oh yeah I'm fine!"

"You look like somethings bothering you,"

"Well I'm just worried that's all,"

"So you're not- AH SANDY WHAT THE HECK!"

Jack put his hands in front of his face while Sandy squirted the water pistol at his face.

"I told you guys to stop that!"

"We're just trying to help!"

"Can you do it in a less aggravating way?"

Sandy chuckled to himself and put away the water pistol.

"Seriously, getting spritzed with water like a cat isn't that fun."

"But it does keep you awake."

Jack stuck out his tongue at them like the mature spirit he was and Tooth giggled a little bit. Jack eased up when he saw Tooth smile. He hasn't seen her do that in a while. He smirked a slightly and showed his snow white teeth knowing that Tooth hasn't seen him smile in a long time too. Sand gave Jack a thumbs up.

Jack winced as his painkillers began to wear off again causing him discomfort. All of the soreness returned and Jack stared up at the ceiling while spreading his body out. Sandy and Tooth noticed his body language and they moved over to the cart at the foot of Jack's bed where bottles and containers of medication was. "Hey Jack do you know which bottle had the painkillers in them?" Tooth asked. She was still asleep when they were tending to Jack's wounds yesterday since they did not want her to see him until his leg was sewn shut and his stab wound was covered.

"I don't know I was too busy bleeding to notice."

There was his cranky attitude again. Maybe when this is all over and Jack could sleep again a nice long rest would even him out. Sandy stood on a footstool to see everything on the cart. He was there when they were tending to Jack and he caught a glimpse of what pills North gave to the boy to soothe him. Pointing to a white bottle of rather large pills, Sandy motioned that those were the painkillers. Tooth picked it up and saw that the label on the bottle was faded and she could barely make out what the letters said.

"Are you sure that this is it?"

Sandy thought for a second before nodding.

"Okay how many should we give him?"

Pausing, Sandy estimated that maybe one or two pills would last a few hours for Jack. He was still a few centuries old and he weighed as much as a leaf blowing through the wind so he wouldn't need a large quantity. Tooth opened the bottle and tapped out one large tablet into the palm of her hand.

Meanwhile, Jack was still on his bed too busy aching to be drowsy. "Can you hurry up?" he moaned. Not wanting Jack to be in pain anymore, Tooth flew over to him with the tablet and a glass of water. Jack took one look at the medication and looked confused.

"Are you sure people are supposed to swallow that? It looks more like a choking hazard for small children."

"Jack please, just wash it down with this water."

Hesitating, Jack weakly picked up the tablet as best he could with the IVs still in his arm and held the object in front of his lips. It took Jack approximately two minuted to get the large pill down his throat and he practically drained the glass of water trying to wash it down. The pill seemed to tickle Jack's throat as it moved further down into his body. Thinking about the situation more, Sandy thought that they should have cut the tablet in pieces instead of making Jack swallow the whole thing but Tooth was rushing and neither of them wanted Jack to be anymore pain.

"How do you feel Jack?" Tooth asked looking down on him. He seemed less tense but now he was looking at Tooth as if she drooled on herself.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Sandy started tapping on Tooth's shoulder impatiently and she spun around.

"What?"

The guardian of dreams looked nervous and held up a small blue bottle labeled 'painkillers'. Tooth's heart sank. If they didn't give Jack painkillers, then what did they give him?

/

"You should have just asked me what to give him!"

"I was rushing and I didn't have time to!"

"Didn't you look at the label?"

"I couldn't even read the label!"

"Then why would you give it to Jack?"

"Sandy said that those were the painkillers for him!"

North sided and rubbed his temples. He was standing over Jack who was tangling his hand through the white hairs in North's beard. The tablet that Tooth gave him was made from a potion that was supposed to mess with the brain of whoever swallowed it and confuse their senses as well as what they would say. In other words, Jack was going to be loopy for a couple hours. "Why were these pills even with the medication?" Tooth asked.

"Maybe the elves put it there."

"What would they even be doing with these?"

"I don't know."

While the two guardians chatted away, Sandy watched as Jack began to laugh at nothing.

"How many pills did you give him?"

"Just one."

"Did he take the whole thing?"

"Yes."

"Then he should be like his for about a day."

"A day? But what about-"

"I don't think he'll be tired any time soon."

"Alright. Should we tell Bunny?"

"Yes, we can't afford not to inform him about this just in case he visits in an emergency."

Jack was smiling like a five year old. He had only taken the pill a few minutes ago meaning that the full affects wouldn't kick in yet and the pill was most likely still in his stomach. Right now he was just acting like he was under the influence of alcohol but it would soon get much worse as the day would go on. "Psst, Sandy," Jack whispered while grinning. "Saaaaaandy."

Sandy turned to Jack who looked like a light bulb went off in his drugged head.

"Sandy hey,"

Once again, Sandy made sure that Jack knew that he was listening to him.

"O-Okay. I have a question,"

Jack's voice was slurred so the more crazier affects of the pill were starting.

"Wha-What if Pitch comes and he tries to steal our eyebrows because he doesn't have any?"

Sandy started to laugh at Jack's remark. Even though they accidentally drugged Jack, Sandy couldn't help but laugh. North and Tooth noticed how hard Sandy was silently laughing and they turned to him. "Sandy what are you laughing at? There's no telling what Jack may do in this state!" Tooth said. Jack was already injured and she did not like the fact that now he would be acting off his rocker for the rest of the day instead of resting up in bed. Besides, if Pitch attacked again there was no chance of Jack making it out alive. He has already had too many close calls when he was in a normal state but now that he was like this, he was as safe as a soldier running through a mine field.

"I'll turn on the lights to let Bunny know that he need him. While I'm gone make sure you keep Jack under control."

"Right."

Tooth and Sandy saluted while North rushed off.

/

"Alright North what happened to Frost now?"

"Well, he took the wrong medication so he will be acting as you can say,"

"Stupid?"

"Yes."

"How is that any difference from how he normally is-"

Bunnymund froze when he saw the sight before him and a smirk formed on his face. Lying in bed, was Jack still being affected by the medication but on his face was a pair of Beagle Puss glasses. "He wouldn't quiet down until we got him some." Tooth said. Jack was grinning ear to ear while Sandy was doing the same. Bunnymund turned to North.

"So how long is he going to be like this?"

"About a day."

"Any way to reverse it?"

"We can only wait for the affects to wear off."

"But what if something happens and Frost is to busy being in la la land to notice?"

"Then we just have to be on our guard. His senses have been weakened temporarily and what he might say or do is very unpredictable."

Jack looked over to Bunnymund and North and took off his Beagle Puss glasses. He was still lying down and he was still feeling dizzy but that didn't stop him from calling Bunnymund over to his bed side. Cautiously, Bunnymund made his way over to Jack. Everyone else watched as Jack motioned for Bunnymund to come closer and closer until he was leaning over Jack.

"Psst. Bunny," he whispered.

"What?"

"Bunny,"

"What?"

"I need to tell you something,"

"What is it?"

"Its very important,"

"Spit it out already."

"But you have to promise to keep it a secret,"

"I promise mate."

Jack's eyes glanced around.

"Hi."

Bunnymund rolled his green eyes. "Do I really have to be here if he's going to be like this?" he asked. Now that Jack was high on improper medication, he was acting more childish and immature than ever and he was being silly as if he was a mere child. "Well there's no telling what can happen. If Pitch comes then Jack wouldn't be able to defend himself and he'd be at risk of losing his life." Tooth responded.

"So basically we're all babysitting Snowflake while he's delirious."

"Well when you put it like that,"

Jack's eyes were staring up at the ceiling above him. "Where's the sky?" he asked. His glazed eyes studied the rafters and the planks making up the roof above his head. "You are not outside my dear boy, you are inside." North answered slightly amused at Jack's euphoric stated. It was a shame that the only reason why Jack was acting so happy was because he was tipsy from that pill he swallowed, but at least he wasn't in any pain right?

In a corner high up above the guardian's heads rested a small black spider. Its shadow the size of a spec, but it was large enough for Pitch Black to hide in and watch the scene below him unfold. Nobody even noticed him as he watched their every move.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: i really wanted to write some more delirious jack so heres another chapter**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Twenty Eight

Pitch looked down on them. He couldn't believe how foolish and incompetent they were behaving. If he wanted to he could just swoop down and ambush them but he didn't. This was going to be Pitch's gift to them. Their last moments with Jack Frost right before Pitch would take control of the boy in a few days would be joyous and filled with laughter so that when they'd remember Jack they would remember how much they'd miss him once Pitch was done with him.

Jack was only beginning his recovering stage and he was acting like a complete idiot. Well, more of an idiot than he already was but it doesn't matter Pitch had made a conclusion that Jack was acting stupid. He thought that the punctual tooth fairy would be more careful but no she let Jack become this raving blockhead who would last like this for the entire day.

"OH MY GOSH!"

"What? What is it?"

"MY HANDS!"

"What about them?"

"SOMEONE STOLE THEM!"

North and Sandy chuckled at Jack while Bunnymund face palmed. He had only been here for an hour and he was already annoyed. "Jack no one stole your hands they're right there." Tooth reassured him. She should really be worrying but right now she was amused at Jack's behavior.

"A-Are you sure Tooth?"

"Yes."

"But these don't even look like my hands!"

Jack looked at his pale hands. There were a few scars on his palms but other than that they were fine. A light bulb seemed to go off in Jack's drugged head and he motioned North to come over to him.

"North," his voice was over a whisper but North was leaning close enough to hear him.

"Yes?"

"I know who stole my hands,"

North decided to play along with Jack who at the moment had the mental capacity of an elf.

"Alright Jack, who stole your hands?" he joked.

"Bunny did."

"What?"

"He stole my hands because he's jealous!"

North and Tooth were in hysterics along with Sandy but Bunnymund was not amused.

"Bunnymund stole my hands! Everyone hide their hands or else he'll steal your hands too!"

"Now listen here Frostbite, I-"

"He also stole Pitch's eyebrows and that's why he doesn't have any!"

Tooth clasped her mouth because she was laughing so hard she could barely stay in the air. That last even statement made Bunnymund crack a smile which he tried to hide. The sound of North's loud laughter bellowed throughout the room and Sandy looked like he was going to die laughing.

It was good to have a nice laughing fit together. They had all gone through so much together and they had all emotionally suffered seeing their newest member go through all of the drama and pain Pitch was causing him. None of them have ever had this much of a good time together since the day Jack had become a guardian. Everyone had forgotten that they still needed to think of a plan to stop Pitch before time was up but they were too busy having a fun time to even notice that that thought had slipped out of their minds.

"Whoa. What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"The sky,"

"You mean the ceiling?"

"Why is it swirling?"

"Jack its not swirling you're just seeing things."

"But its so colorful!"

Jack smiled before giggling to himself. He hiccuped once before looking over at Tooth who was fluttering by his side. His eyes squinted at her before tilting his head.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"That thing,"

"What thing?"

"W-With the stuff."

"What?"

Sandy turned to Tooth and pointed to her wings.

"Oh! You mean my wings?"

"Oh my gosh are you a bird?"

Tooth giggled once more.

"Well Jack, I-"

"Jack is not here right now. Please leave a message after the beep. Beeeep."

North chuckled at Jack. He never knew Jack could be so fun even when he was loopy on medication.

"Okay here is a message for Jack. Tell him-"

"Meow."

"Excuse me?"

"Meow meow meow meow."

Pitch continued to spy on them. He was starting to get annoyed with Jack more than he's ever been with before. If only Jack's mind was weak enough to take over completely. Right now it was hanging by a thread but that thread needed to be half its width. Besides, if the guardians saw Pitch right now their anger and rage against him would mean trouble for him. The boogeyman was already losing to Sandy enough and he did not need to be beaten to a pulp by four furious magical beings that had vanquished him with the help of a teenager a few months ago.

Jack was beginning to bat the bell on the tip of an elf's hat as if it was a cat toy. He was like a three year old trapped inside the body of an immortal teenager who was pretending he was a cat.

"Wait I can't see I need my glasses!" he yelled out. Sandy picked up the Beagle Puss glasses that they had given to Jack and he slid them onto the boy's face.

The fake moustache fibers on the glasses tickled Jack's nose and he sneezed causing a small gush of snow to blow open one of the windows. Looking at the snow, Jack smiled in wonder as he watched the snowflakes come down. His eyes marveled at them as they drifted through the air. Bunnymund shivered at the fresh snow that had just blown in and moved to the window to close it but Jack's hand stopped him.

"No don't close it the little snow babies will be locked out!"

"They're not snow babies they're just snow flakes and you can always make more."

"More what?"

"Snowflakes."

"What are snow flakes?"

Bunnymund face palmed. Why did he even bother when Jack was in this state?

"The snow babies."

"I can make snow babies?"

"Yes."

"Can I make non snow babies?"

Sandy was having a silent laughing fit to himself. Bunnymund wondered if Jack would even remember this conversation and before he could respond, Jack asked something else.

"Bunny,"

"What now?'

"You're ears,"

"What about them?"

"They make me sad."

"What? Why?"

"They're so big."

"That's because I'm a bunny."

"Not you're not, you're like a kangaroo with big ears."

"I am not!"

"Yeees yes you are."

"Am not!"

"Noorrth Bunny is lying to me!" he whined.

Bunnymund just shook his head and walked away not putting up with having an argument with a delirious teenager.

"Oh! Wait guys wait wait wait wait wait!"

"Yes Jack?" Tooth answered.

"What's my middle name?"

There was a moment of silence. The moon had just told Jack his first and last name. He didn't say anything about his middle name.

"I, I think its Overland." Tooth spoke up.

"Yes, I think it is." North added. He had seen Jack's name many times when he would be checking the Naughty List and there was never a year where Jack was on the Nice List.

"Is that really my middle name?"

"Yes. Overland is your middle name."

"Why not something like Underlake? I think that would be more fitting."

There was another moment of silence. Jack most likely wouldn't remember what he was saying now but that doesn't mean the guardians wouldn't. He had just make a joke about his own death when he fell under that lake and drowned and he didn't even know it because he was drugged. Well, there was a chance that he had frozen to death under the lake but either way he fell under the lake and died but he saved his sister in doing so and that was why MiM gave him another chance at life.

The awkward silence was broken when Jack suddenly broke into song.

"F is for friends who do stuff together U is for you and me! N is for anywhere anytime at all down here with my best buddies!"

A small smile made its way on to each of the guardians' faces. Even though it may be the medication talking, it was good to hear that Jack has fun with them instead of having fun by himself. North glanced at the clock when he noticed how dark it was getting.

"Oh! Its getting late. Tooth and Sandy should probably get to work soon."

"Oh that's right!" Tooth added. She didn't really want to leave right now and neither did Sandy, but working during the night was part of their job.

"Noooo do they have to go?" Jack asked in a slurred tone.

"Jack, we have to otherwise we will lose believers and the children will get nightmares from Pitch."

"Noo because Sandy has ninety nine problems and Pitch isn't one!"

A humorous smirk made its way onto Sandy's face.

* * *

**A/N: ok so the whole thing about the stolen hands was from this homestuck comic i read on deviantart called hand2 where sollux eats sopor slime and if you are a fellow homestuck fan then you might have read it**

**the underlake joke is from a tumblr post i saw**

**and the F.U.N. song is from spongebob and i just decided to have jack sing that because its his happy high time and hes the guardian of fun anyway  
**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: ok happy high Jack time is over**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Twenty Nine

"I did what?"

North and Bunnymund just laughed at Jack some more.

"Okay guys seriously, did I really do all that stupid stuff?"

"Yes, and you were quite demented during the time."

"And you guys didn't try to stop me?"

"We thought it'd be best to just let you do what you wanted."

Jack's cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. The medication had worn off a few minutes ago and he was quite drowsy from it but North and Bunnymund have been keeping him occupied by telling him about his actions while he was drugged. Every time he became confused or couldn't believe what he did they just laughed at him some more. He was the guardian of fun. He was used to people laughing with him not at him. Well, there were times where North laughed at him but he laughs too easily at everything. It was probably part of his jolly nature. Sandy and Tooth were still out so Jack was alone with Bunnymund and North again. He buried his face into his hands.

"So did I really say Underlake?"

North and Bunnymund ceased their laughter and became silent. They both averted their eyes from Jack as he waited for his answer. Knowing that he died in his past life had been a shock to all of them. If he hadn't died under that lake then they would never have become friends with him and when he did die under the lake he was alone for three hundred years not knowing why he was alive or who he was.

"We-Well, yes you did say Underlake." North stammered out. "But it was medication talking. You didn't actually mean it."

A smug look made its way onto Jack's face. "Heh."

His usual smile was back. The others looked at him and they made a half hearted smile towards him. He had just found out that he was joking about his own death and here he was beaming with amusement. They weren't planning on going into detail about the whole 'Underlake' thing but he was handling it better than they though he would. Neither North or Bunnymund knew that Jack was actually pretty sad inside from thinking about dying and leaving his sister but it did not matter because it was either her or Jack and he was just putting on a fake smile again. How could he say something like that? His body became frozen under that lake for so many years while his little sister lived on knowing that she caused the downfall of her own brother. Besides, Jackson Underlake Frost sounded more abstract than Jackson Overland Frost.

"Don't worry mate." Bunnymund said. "You didn't know what you were saying while you were off your rocker."

Jack stared up at the ceiling and yawned. As soon as the affects of the medication wore off, North had given him the actual painkillers. "Getting tired again?" North asked. Resting his hands behind his head, Jack nodded. North's hand moved to the water pistol lying on the table but a breeze of cold air blew through his beard.

"No more squirting me with water."

"But it keeps you awake."

"Then find some other way to keep me awake that doesn't involve getting my face wet."

North turned to Bunnymund and he shrugged. Squirting Jack with water was the most effective tactic they had in keeping Jack awake. Speaking of Jack, his eyes were slowly beginning to close. "Psst, North," Bunnymund whispered. "Give me the water pistol."

Handing the toy to Bunnymund, North watched what the pooka was planning. Bunnymund couldn't squirt any water at Jack because that toy was designed for the hands of children and not the paws of giant six foot bunnies. Making sure that Jack wouldn't see him, Bunnymund hopped through one of his rabbit holes and appeared swiftly by the side of Jack's bed. Jack didn't even have time to react before Bunnymund dumped out the remaining water from the water pistol onto Jack's face.

"Hey I said stop that!"

Jack wiped the water off of his face with his pillow while Bunnymund corrected him.

"No,you told us to stop spraying you with water."

Pitch remained hidden and watching them from his high position. No one had even looked in his direction. Judging by how tired Jack was, Pitch knew that he could actually convert Jack's body right now. There were only two guardians with Jack and he could handle an overgrown fuzzball and a jolly fat old man. Besides, the only one he really had to look out for was Sandy who was still out. Pitch was about to reveal himself to them when bright sunshine began to seep through the windows.

Dawn of Day Ten, Ten Days Remain

Curses! This would mean that Sandy and that idiotic fairy would be arriving soon. Pitch should have just snatched Jack into the darkness while his mind was melted by that pill he took. Then again, he wasn't going to risk having Jack on his side while he was demented. Pitch's thoughts were interrupted when Toothiana opened the window. "Oh Jack you're back to normal!" Tooth flew over to Jack about to hug him when she remembered he was still recovering. Instead, she just smiled at him while flying next to his bed.

"Why is there water on you?"

"Because Bunnymund is an a-"

"So have you been feeling any better?"

"I'm still tired but other than that fine."

Tooth nodded and turned to North.

"Has Sandy come back yet?"

"No not yet."

"Okay. What should we do once he gets back?"

"We need different plan to stop Pitch before time runs out."

"How many days are left?"

"About ten but we still can't waste any time."

Jack only had one week and three days and he was still weak and fatigue. Just then Sandy glided in on a manta ray made from his dream sand and waved them good morning. Then he looked at Jack and made a question mark over his head when he saw water on Jack's face and head. "We kept him awake while you were out." Bunnymund said smirking. Meanwhile Pitch slipped back into the shadows and and moved to the dark shadows under Jack's bed. He was the boogeyman after all. If he couldn't take Jack with all of these guardians in the room, he would have a little fun with Jack in a nightmare.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: oh my gosh im so sorry for not updating for so long D: ive been sick and busy with school stuff and then ive been planning out cosplays and writing another fic so right now im just doing a whole cluster of things. anyway remember when i said this story would have around 30 chapters? well i guess i was wrong because there were some chapters that werent actually supposed to even be written but i wrote them anyways for yall demands so this story is going to be longer than i thought ahaha -_-'  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty

The guardians were all caught up in their thoughts. What were they supposed to do to defeat Pitch in only ten days while every second could be the last for their youngest member? All odds were against them. Pitch had the upper hand while his enemies were in a moment of weakness and being blinded by their feelings of worry and fear and hatred towards him. Was the Nightmare King finally going to defeat them and then doom Jack to an eternity of nightmares? What could they even do? The silence was broken when a malicious laugh shuddered through the room.

"Pitch don't you dare!" Bunnymund roared. Black shadows began to swirl out from underneath Jack's bed. Sandy slammed his whips down on the ground but each patch of gold he made was consumed before it could spread. Jack was still lying flat on his back on his bed recovering. He tried to get up to look over but pain shot through his body when he tried getting up and it wouldn't matter anyway since Tooth quickly pushed him back down. "Don't worry Jack you'll be alright just don't do anything and stay right where you are." she told him. Her tone was so serious, as if she was a mother protecting their child in the middle of a nuclear war zone.

Creeping out of the shadows, Pitch barely had enough time to duck before an exploding Easter egg whizzed over his head. "Now listen here, I-" Pitch was cut off as a golden whip twisted around him and he grunted as he was being flung around like a rag doll. Sandy slammed his body against the ceiling, the walls, the floors, he even used Pitch's body to smash a few windows. They were all furious with him and he was foolish enough to appear right in front of them. After making quite a few dents in North's infirmary, Sandy slammed Pitch against the ground while still keeping his limbs tied with dream sand. "I don't think he got the message, why don't you try again Sandy?" Tooth asked.

North placed his boot on Pitch's chest and the tip of his sword at his grey throat.

"Now tell us Pitch,"

Leaning closer and applying more pressure on the leg on Pitch's chest, North narrowed his large blue eyes.

"Why have you come?"

Even though his entire body was sore and aching from being banged and smashed against the solid room, Pitch still had an evil smirk on his face.

"What? I need an excuse to visit my-"

"This is not a joke we mean it. If you so much as come near Jack or any of us, we will personally make sure that-"

"That you'll what? Kill me? Murder me? As long as there are children in the world, there will be fear."

"Well there' always time for experiments." Toothiana said to him with venom in her words. She was holding back every urge in her body to go over to Pitch and give him a swift kick in the teeth but she knew that Jack was at the mercy of him as well. Bunnymund twirled his boomerangs in his paws ready to strike and Sandy's grip on the dream sand constricting Pitch like a python was anything but loose. Jack craned his neck just to get a glimpse of what was happening while still reaming in his bed. From what he could see, they were all ready for any chance at Pitch and even though he was still wounded, Jack was craving a rematch with the boogeyman in the real world where the battle would actually be fair.

Jack didn't even notice the black spider creeping into his bed and crawling onto his shoulder. "Ow!" Jack slapped the spider off his shoulder as it bit him. Tooth immediately flew over to Jack and examined the spider bite. Then she used her keen eyes to analyze what was left of the dead spider that was sticking to the palm of Jack's cold hand.

"Pitch what did you do?"

"Oh so everything that happens to your little boy in blue is my fault now?"

"You exactly what I'm talking about this spider is made up of nightmare sand!"

North's sword looked as if it were about to stab through Pitch's throat.

"You have once chance to tell us."

Pitch rolled his eyes.

"Fine, the spider bite will not be that fatal its just-"

"He's lying." Bunnymund cut in. Pitch sighed.

"Okay yes I lied."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Tell us about the spider bite!"

Pitch scoffed at them.

"Oh its nothing really. It just makes my job easier."

"Quit ya stalling and spit it out!"

"Do I detect a hint of discomfort here? It seems as if you actually care about Jack when all he's done is freeze your holiday."

"I told you once and I'll say it again, quit ya stalling and get on with it!"

While Pitch was bickering with the guardian of hope, Tooth stayed by Jack's side. His vision was getting cloudy and his head was pounding as if an elf was using it as a drum. He rubbed at his eyes and blinked but the more he did the more obscured everything became. "What's wrong Jack? What's happening?" Tooth asked him.

"I, I don't know."

"Are you hurting?"

"No,"

"Are you falling asleep?"

"Uh,"

Jack shook his head but the room began to spin around him. He began to feel light headed and his eyelids had suddenly become as heavy as lead. The world around Jack fell into sepia as the shouts he heard around him became muffled. Jack groaned as he covered his eyes and face in his hands. What did Pitch do to him? The last sound he heard was the maniacal laugh of the boogeyman as his eyelids closed and he drifted into unconsciousness.

/

Jack's eyes snapped open and he shot up but then fell back down when the sudden head rush caused him to lose his balance. He clutched his spinning head as a bead of cold sweat rested on his temple. Where was he? Was he asleep? Jack really hoped he wasn't asleep again. He had had enough of all of these horrific nightmares that would either scar him emotionally or physically.

Opening his eyes again, Jack took in his surroundings. He was outside, in a park sitting in a tree. There were tall urban buildings squeezed together with people bustling around them each looking as if they were going through a hard time. Hard roads covered the land around him and Jack watched as people of different races drove these old fashioned looking automobiles along them. The sun in the sky shone down upon Jack and made him jump out of surprise. He slipped out of the tree he was in and fell onto the grass beneath him as people walked past him.

Brushing dirt off of himself, Jack became more confused at his change of clothes. Instead of being wrapped tightly in bandages, he had on a thin light long sleeved tan shirt with a brown vest over it. Instead of his torn up pants that he wore all of the time, he had on a pair of black twill pants that rested over his brown shoes. Why did he have on shoes? Jack didn't even wear shoes when he was mortal. To have these things on his feet right now felt so alien to Jack. He couldn't feel the ground below him or anything and they felt a little constricting. Leaning down so that he could take his shoes off, Jack saw his reflection in a puddle and nearly jumped back at what he saw. Instead of having the face of a pale teenage corpse and silver white hair, he had flushed skin with dark brown eyes that matched with his brown hair.

What kind of dream was this?

* * *

**A/N: wow writing stuff when youre sick takes a lot out of ya 0_o seriously i had to go lie down after typing this up**


	31. Chapter 31

**A/n: this is the third day home from school blaarg and I'm typing this on my iPod so it's not the best**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty One

Where was he? Why was he human? Jack had never had so many questions buzzing around in his mind. He took in the scenery and realized that it was warm. Judging the grass and the plants, it was most likely spring but why was Jack dreaming about spring? If this was a memory wouldn't he be somewhere cold? Jack wasn't the one to stick around during any season that didn't evolve snowballs and fun time. In fact, he should be in a different location where it was winter. Where was he anyway? Jack saw a man walking past him maybe he knew where he was.

The man seemed about seven inches taller than Jack and looked like he a commoner with a tweed suit. "Excuse can you tell me where I am?" Jack asked.

"Of course. You're in New York."

"Wait what?"

"New York in America. Don't you know anything? Or are you one of those teenagers that ran away from home?"

"What? Why would I run away from home?"

"How should I know?"

Jack paused for a moment. He remembered that there was this time where many parents had to pay a large amount of money to have their kids attend school on a daily basis and some kids ended up not going or they ran away. Now Jack did not remember if he went to school as a human but by judging the looks of it, he would hate it. School looked like a prison in Jack's eyes when he would look through windows and see children asleep on their desks and drooling on papers while their teacher blabbed on and on.

"What year is it?"

"What are you stupid? Its 1911."

The man walked away from Jack leaving him there standing dazed and confused. 1911? Why would he dream about that? Jack didn't even know if he was in New York during that time since he usually followed the cold seasons. Jack's curiosity got the best of him and he walked into New York dressed as a normal rag tag teenager. Not too many people looked at him though. He looked just like any other kid on the streets and he blended in with the crowd.

"Hey watch it!"

Jack didn't see the person he bumped into to.

"Oh sorry I-"

"Yeah I know exactly what you were doing! But you can't fool me ain't no one is going to pick pocket me!"

"What?"

"Police!"

"What?"

Jack ran off before he attracted anymore attention. After sprinting though the streets, Jack leaned against a building to catch his breath. What was that all about? He remembered that New York was different than Burgess but he was never mistaken for a thief whenever he would bump into someone. Maybe it was because Jack would just walk through them but still he wasn't a pick pocket. Well, there were some times when Jack would steal some of North's snow globes from the larger man's pocket but he never stole money from anyone. After catching his breathe, Jack slumped down onto the ground.

He was dreaming that he was a human boy in New York during 1911 in spring. What was today anyway? Jack saw a young girl walking past him and stopped her. He was much better with kids than adults anyway.

"Hey excuse me, can you tell what today's date is?"

The smaller girl looked at Jack with a friendly face. She seemed to be about thirteen or fourteen years old and had a had bag slung around her shoulder.

"Today is the twenty fifth of March." she said to him.

"Ah okay. So are you going to school?"

"Nope. I'm off to work."

"You have a job?"

"Yeah lots of people do! I work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company."

"Oh sounds fun." Jack said sarcastically but the girl's face scrunched up.

"Not at all. I'm paid barely anything and I have to work for over twelve hours in a sweatshop."

"A what?"

"A sweatshop. They lock us in the room so that we won't leave while working."

"That's terrible! Don't they have some kind of-"

"Nope. Yesterday my friend's hair got caught in a machine and she ended up dying because-"

"Wait wait wait, if she died yesterday what are you doing going to work today?"

"I have to. My family immigrated here and we need money."

The girl looked as if she were about to cry so she ran off without another word. Jack didn't even get her name and he just stood there in disbelief. Locking in workers? Children dying in factories? What kind of era was this why wasn't something being done? Jack was a guardian fit to protect the children of the world. If he had known that things like this were happening he would not have stood for it.

Deciding to go down to the factory that the girl was working at, Jack made his way down town. His brown shoes tapped the hard ground with each step he made and it felt so weird to him. Jack would usually fly where ever he needed to go but he was human this time, and humans don't have magical powers that grant them the ability to call upon the winds and-

His staff.

Jack had completely forgotten about his staff! Freezing in the spot where he was standing, Jack's head spun in every direction trying to locate his staff. Without the slightest hesitation, Jack raced back to the park where he woke up. His staff had to be with him it just had to be. It wouldn't help Jack at the moment since he was a human right now but it was better knowing where his staff was. Hopefully his precious staff was at the park. Jack didn't like knowing that his staff could still be in the infirmary at Santoff Clausen because that would allow it to be snatched up by Pitch. No, the guardians would protect his staff right? Of course they would. They knew that that wooden stick served as an input for Jack's powers. Without it, he would just be a mess.

Reaching the park and rushing to the tree where he woke up, Jack was appalled to find that his staff wasn't there. He was trapped in a dream as a human without his staff. Jack relied on his powers to do most of his fighting but now that he was a human in New York in 1911, there was no telling what Pitch could do to him. Jack's train of thought was distracted when he saw a trail of smoke come from the city and he heard faint screams.

"You've got to be kidding me." Jack said. Again with the fire?

* * *

**A/N: blaarg this would have been longer but i really have no enthusiasm to write anymore today after getting frustrated with my ipod**


	32. Chapter 32

**A/N: oh wow i just realized how many chapters this story is going to be 0-o**

**also, ****on monday and tuesday i have midterms and i have to makeup two quizzes and i also have to sew a buttload of stuff for my schools showcase so yeah ill be pretty busy :I**  


**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.  
**

Chapter Thirty Two

"Pitch you have five seconds to tell us what you did to Jack!" Tooth screamed at him. Pitch was locked away in a cage of dream sand and it was very similar to when Pitch had locked away Tooth's mini fairies. The nightmare king only rolled his eyes at her.

"I already told you it was just a little bug bite. Its not my fault he can't handle it."

"One,"

"Oh come on, do you really think that will work on-"

"Two,"

"Who do you think you are acting like your my-"

"Three,"

Tooth grabbed one of North's swords and placed the tip milometers away from Pitch's throat. The other guardians had never seen her act like this. They knew that Tooth would often go into her "mama bear" mode whenever one of them or her fairies were threatened, but this was entirely new. Fury and hate was all that you could see in her eyes. The feathers on her body were flared as if she was a bird giving out a warning and her wings were beating so faster, you could hardly see them in the light. Her small hand was gripped around North's sword so tight, it looked as if she were about to snap it in half.

Out of all of the elements in the world, fear can cause many things to happen. It can make you paranoid of everything around you or it could prevent you from doing what you need to do. In others, their fear can be fueled by love. A mother will do whatever they can to protect their child, and their fear of what may happen to their child will cause a mother to do the unthinkable. Now when you have a guardian who's duty it is to protect the children of the world and that guardian just so happens to treat a certain teenage winter spirit like a son and may have a crush on that him, then you should be the one to be afraid when they come after you.

Tooth leaned in closer with North's sword and Pitch gulped when he saw that she meant business. If she wanted to, she would just slit his throat but they all needed information from him. Even though they needed him, Tooth was still furious with him. After all, he did steal all of her fairies and teeth and imprison them like animals a few months ago. Not to mention everything that he's done to Jack so far. He was like a sitting duck and Tooth was like a fox just waiting to strike. Behind Tooth was Sandy along with the other guardians. Sandy glared at Pitch and made a fist with one hand and patted it with the other meaning that they could beat the fear out of the nightmare king if he didn't cooperate. Bunnymund and North were also in the room and they were both equally serious with Pitch.

"Four,"

Pitch took a step back in his cage.

"Oh alright. Fine I did something."

Bunnymund twirled his boomerang in his paw. "Oh we all know that mate. The question is what's going on in Frosty's head and whether or not you'll be alright when we're done with ya." he said. Pitch was now at the mercy of three angry guardians and his mortal enemy.

"Its just a harmless little nightmare. Its not too complicated, it'll just put on a little show for your little boy."

"What kind of show?"

"How should I know? The spider bite is so random these days he could be dreaming of anything."

What Pitch was really planning was much more elaborate than random nightmares. Yes, it was true that whatever Jack was dreaming about was random, but Pitch hadn't told the guardians how long it would last. Jack had gone almost three months without sleep and had to deal with horrific nightmares the entire time. The boy was in a deep deep sleep that would be very difficult to wake him up from, so it was perfect for Pitch to implant a nightmare in Jack's mind while he was unconscious.

Everyone's eyes turned to Sandy. He was the guardian of dreams, he would be able to look inside Jack's dream while the boy was asleep. Making his way to Jack, Sandy placed his finger the younger guardian's forehead and closed his eyes as he looked into Jack's mind. He saw and heard all sorts of things. There were people screaming and crying, and the heat from an inferno pounded against your skin as you were shoved by pedestrians trying to get a closer look. Sandy focused more as he looked into Jack's dream. He was too lost in his work to notice the sun coming up.

Dawn of Day Eleven, Nine Days Remain

/

Jack did his best to get closer to the Triangle Shirtwaist Company without knocking mortified people over. A fire had broken out on the top floors causing an eruption of madness and dismay. Looking up, Jack saw the terrified young workers shuffle to the windows while flames crackled behind them. A thick cloud of grey smoke escaped through the windows and gathered at the top of the flaming building. Jack hated fire. If the flames didn't get you, the smoke would. As firemen appeared on the seen, Jack became irritated with them when he saw that they were barely doing anything to extinguish the fires.

"What are you doing? There are people in there! Put out the fires!" he shouted over the blood curdling sounds of fire cackling around the bodies of innocent lives. "We don't have enough pressure to reach them and our ladders are too short." a fireman responded. The man seemed stressed and why wouldn't he? It was his job to put out the fires and he was useless at the moment. Jack's eyes looked back at the building with his hands clenched. His nails dug into his palms as the fire continued to rage on in the building. He was a guardian, and it was his duty to protect the children, so why couldn't he protect them now?

His mind was racked with thoughts as his brown eyes scanned the windows until he saw her. It was that girl from before, the one Jack had talked to. He could see the fear in her eyes as she and many others crammed by the window with the fire behind them burning their coworkers alive. They were crying, and desperate to escape. Then, Jack gasped as she jumped. Time seemed to slow down as Jack's eyes were locked on the falling girl.

Thud.

Her body had made contact with the hard pavement. A trickle of blood came from her skull as she laid on the ground motionless. Jack pushed pass a crowd to get closer to her. He didn't even get her name. He just knew her as 'that one girl that had helped him' and now she was dead and he couldn't do anything to help her. There were charred sections on her clothes as if they had been set on fire while her hair was tangled and matted as if she had gotten in a fight.

Thud.

Jack whirled around as the body of another young girl slammed down behind him. This time, her hair was smoking and there was an assortment of burns on her arms and there were fresh tears coating her tired and puffy eyes. Jack didn't even have time to be upset before another body landed to his right. Getting out of the way, Jack covered his head as more bodies rained down.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

He had never seen anything like this, but he hoped that he would never have to witness and event like this in his immortal life ever again. Maybe it was because he was in a different part of the world when this happened, but Jack couldn't help but feel guilty. If he had just come here for a visit he could have used the wind to save people. Sure, the hot smoke might have slowed him down but the ind listened to Jack. Instead, scores of young workers jumped out of ninth floor windows with their arms flailing while trying to keep themselves upright. Most of them looked like they were in their early teen years. Below them, a net was stretched out for the workers to land on. As another body plummeted, it gained velocity and Jack looked away when he saw the body shoot through the net as the sound of it tearing pounded against his ear drums.

Jack could do nothing but watch as over a hundred people fell to their doom. They had two options of dying. It was either fall to your death, or become engulfed in the flames, and none of them wanted to be burned alive so they chose to take a leap of faith and let death welcome them in. Another body landed in front of Jack. He didn't want to look, but he did it anyways. It was the body of a young woman, and there was a ring on her finger. Not just any ring, and engagement ring.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: ok so i literally have no idea what im doing with this fic right now and all of the nightmares that jack is about to have are just fillers mostly until i reach that certain point that ive been dying to write ;3  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty Three

Honestly, Jack had no idea what to do. People were dying all around him and it was a horrifying experience. To think that every person who stained the sidewalks and every person who became burned alive had a life of their own. They could have been part of a family that was now an incomplete set or be someone who would miss their own wedding day. They might have had friends that cared about them and now they would never live to see them there was that girl. Being immigrants, her family had come looking for a better life, and because of that they're missing their child.

Just like his human family.

Jack and Pippa had gone ice-skating around Christmas, and Jack had fallen through the lake. His body went into shock and the next thing he knew he drowned, leaving Pippa behind. He left his little sister behind to tell their parents that Jack wouldn't be celebrating Christmas with them that year and he would never celebrate anything with them ever again. He left his little sister the guilt of having to live with the fact that her older brother was dead and it was all her fault.

The bodies had finally stopped falling but blood was left on the sidewalk along with over a hundred dead bodies and ash from when one of the windows had burst causing a shower of flaming corpse to rain down. Some of them were holding hands, as if they were siblings or as if they were in love or as if they were making sure one wouldn't die alone. Many of the bodies had tags on them with number, and that girl was no.72 now. Jack would never know her name or anything else about her and he only had one brief conversation with her. Now he knew her as No.72, brave little No.72 who had died trying to provide for her family.

Jack fled the scene.

He had had enough.

All of this death surrounding him was unbearable.

Why didn't anyone do anything?

Why didn't he do anything?

Was it because people learned from their mistakes? Did the events of today happen for a reason? Maybe now people wouldn't have to work in sweat shops where they would be locked inside for endless hours doing nothing but work.

Jack ran back to the park that he had woken up in and leaned against the tree panting. His heart was still racing in his chest and he was still tense. The last tag he had seen read No. 143 and he knew that there were about three bodies that still had to be tagged.

One hundred and forty three plus three is one hundred and forty six.

One hundred and forty six people died today.

Most of them were women both young and old but Jack had seen a couple men dead on the streets.

Honestly, Jack just wanted to escape. He didn't want to be here where he was useless. What good was he if he couldn't protect anyone today?

/

Pitch had been locked away hours ago, and was now their prisoner. North and Tooth were guarding the cage that held the nightmare king captive while Sandy and Bunnymund were trying their best to wake Jack up. "You've been shaking the boy for ten minutes Sandy give it a rest." Bunny said. He had been watching the guardian of dreams relentlessly shake Jack's body in attempts to wake him up.

Sandy sighed. He had seen the horrors of what Jack was seeing in his nightmare, and he did not like it. Sandy was a guardian way before the fire at the company had happened, so the following night he had done his best to comfort everyone in their dreams to try to cover up all of the sadness in their hearts.

Jack had been out for hours now. He looked as if he were dead to the world, and that was what made the guardians so anxious. They had watched as tears had streaked down Jack's face as he slept. Sandy was the only one able to look inside Jack's dreams (other than Pitch) so the other guardians were unaware of what was causing the winter spirit so much distress. Jack had gasped and tossed and turned as sweat gathered on his face and he looked so distraught but now he was still, as if whatever chaos that was taking place in his nightmare had suddenly ceased.

Bunny examined how Jack's body was acting. He didn't seem to be in any pain from when Pitch had attacked him in his dream about the Titanic, maybe those pills that Tooth accidentally gave him did more than they thought. Jack was a magical being, so his body healed faster than a regular mortal's body but he was still young. He was only around three hundred and thirty years old right? Come to think of it, how old was Jack? When he drowned he had been seventeen and then he spend and estimation of three hundred years alone as a winter spirit and then MiM called upon him and now he was the guardian of fun.

A light bulb went off in Bunnymund's head and a sly smile mad its way across his face. "Sandy! Stay here with Jack I'll be right back!" he said before disappearing down a rabbit hole. A question mark flashed above Sandy's head. What did Bunnymund have in store? His question was quickly answered when Bunnymund popped out of one of his holes right besides Jack's bed. The pooka had a mischievous smile on his face similar to Jack's as he crept close to the sleeping boy with a bucket filled with room temperature water. Sandy chuckled to himself. This was sure to wake Jack up from his dream. They had used water to wake him up before, so why wouldn't it work now?

There was approximately a gallon of water in Bunnymund's pail and he was ready to dump the entire pail on Jack. It was true that Jack did not like it when they used water to keep him awake and he did not like it when his friends kept dumping water on him as if he was a naughty house cat. It was also true that E. Aster Bunnymund does not take orders from Jackson Overland Frost. Making eye contact with Bunnymund, Sandy gave him a thumbs up and the pooka nodded. Why hadn't they thought of this before?

In one swift movement, Bunnymund dumped the entire gallon of room temperature water on Jack's sleeping body making sure to start on the boy's sleeping face.

"WHAT DID I SAY TO YOU ABOUT THE WATER?"

Sandy flew over and hugged Jack's soaking wet body as the teen rubbed his eyes and tried to get the water out of his ears that hopefully wouldn't freeze. Sure he was awake and all but he was not a fan of his rude awakening.

"Welcome back Snowflake."

"Just you wait Kangaroo."

A smirk appeared on Jack's face masking all of the guilt and disappointment he had from his nightmare. Now that he was awake, Jack's eyes scanned the room to see his staff lying next to his bed. With a sigh of relief, Jack got out of bed to grab it. He didn't even notice that he was back on his feet until he grasped the wooden stick and his head began to pound. Jack sat back down on his bed and buried his face in his hands.

"Easy there mate,"

Bunnymund laid his paw on Jack's shoulder. Then Jack's face snapped back up.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Um, I think for only a few hours?"

That wasn't true at all. Jack was asleep for an entire day. If Bunnymund hadn't woken him up, he would have slept through the entire week maybe even more.

"Oh wait where's Tooth and North?"

"They're on the other side or the workshop."

"Doing what?"

Bunnymund glanced at Sandy. Should they inform Jack that Pitch was in the complex being guarded by two members of his makeshift family?

"Never mind I'll just go look for them."

"Jack wait!"

But it was too late, the door had already shut.

/

Jack didn't want to leave so soon but it was just that he was so tired. He needed something to distract his mind. Besides, his bed was soaking wet and he didn't want to sit in a soggy bed all day while Bunnymund lectured him. Usually when he was tired adrenaline would help keep him awake but there weren't any fearlings to fight at the moment and Jack wasn't up for fighting one of his friends.

His wounds weren't fully healed, so Jack just lightly hovered above the ground. If Jack was fully healed he would have taken off the constricting bandages. Well, maybe not. If he took off his bandages then he'd be half naked and Jack did not want to venture through North's workshop like that. He didn't even know where his clothes were.

Yawning, Jack turned a corner. The water that had been dumped onto him had froze on his body and he now had ice in his hair Bunnymund and Sandy were most likely looking for him now after his abrupt exit. Where was he even going anyways? He had wanted to find North and Tooth but when Bunnymund and Sandy hesitated to tell him, he just took off. It was irresponsible of him but he wanted to see them again.

Jack saw Phil the yeti in the hall and stopped him to ask where North and Tooth were.

"Oh hey Phil. Can you tell me were-mph!"

Phil picked up Jack and brought him into a hug while making his usual yeti sounds but they sounded happier and relieved. He didn't even seem to care that Jack's body was covered in frost he was just happy to see Jack actually up again. Jack could hardly breathe in as the shaggy walking carpet held him close. Phil's grasp on his body was so tight, Jack felt like a python was wrapped around him. Just as it seemed like he was about to suffocate, Phil let go of Jack when he noticed the boy was pounding his arms against him.

"Good to see you too. So do you know where North and Tooth are?"

Phil nodded and pointed to a large green door down the hall. Jack thanked him and proceeded in the direction he was pointed in. Frost became etched on the door's handles as Jack tugged on it.

It wouldn't budge.

Maybe it was locked?

No, there weren't any kind of lock mechanisms on the door as far as Jack could tell.

Maybe the door was just heavy? There were quite a few heavy doors in North's workshop.

Trying to pull the door open again, Jack had both of his hands on the door's handle.

Was the lack of sleep taking its toll?

Did he really become so weak?

All of Jack's questions were answered when Phil pushed the door open for him. Jack became embarrassed realizing his foolish mistake.

"I knew that."

Phil grumbled something that sounded like he was teasing Jack before the boy walked through the door. He was met with a staircase leading down into darkness. The only lights were flickering on and off as if they were weak. North's workshop was so extravagant and full of wonder while this staircase seemed so dull and plain, as if it hadn't been renovated in decades. Why would this staircase be so out of place? Then again, North was a busy spirit having to deliver toys to every good boy and girl in the world in just one night. He had to make prototypes, check his list, plan courses, check his list again, and keep up with being a guardian. There's no way he would have time to redecorate one measly staircase and the yetis had to work hard to keep up with the toys. The elves wouldn't be able to renovate an entire staircase either.

Cautiously, Jack hovered down the stairs. He was as light as a feather but he didn't trust the way the stairs looked like they were made of rotting wood. Looks like age does keep up with this place after all. When he reached the bottom Jack was met with another door. This time, he pushed the door open slowly awaiting to see North and Tooth but instead his eyes widened at what he saw inside.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: hey everyone so sorry for making yall wait this long but midterms are over and i probably failed my Japanese test but fun fact for ya, this fanfiction was supposed to be over by now but apparently im waay over what it was originally supposed to be and its gettin a bit too long so im gonna be wrapping this up soon so i can post the new fanfics im writing ;3  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty Four

Jack was shocked. One of North's twin swords was lying alone on the ground but what made Jack's old heart pound against his chest was the fact that there was a smear of fresh blood on the blade. Scattered all over the ground were some of Tooth's colorful feathers, all bent at awkward angles. The walls were scratched as if a battle had occurred but where was everyone? There wasn't a trace of North or Tooth or Pitch. A cage was lying on the ground ripped open and a cluster of nightmare sand coated the ground as if it had been dumped there.**  
**

"It's about time you showed up Jack."

Recognizing the voice, Jack whirled around and shot a blast of ice at Pitch but his blow was blocked by a small shield of black sand. With his emotions getting the best of him, Jack furiously froze the ground Pitch was standing on making him slip as Jack blasted him with yet another ice beam.

"Where are they? Pitch you tell me what you did to them right now!"

"I didn't do anything to them Jack. They just got in the way and i sent them on a little adventure-"

Pitch was cut off when the crook on Jack's staff became hooked around his neck. Jack pulled pitch by the throat until they were at equal eye level. "Where. Are. They." he snarled through gritted teeth. He was done playing Pitch's games. He was done with all of this fatigue and anxiety and sadness inside his cold heart.

He was done with all of it.

"Do you really want to know?"

"No, I was just being sarcastic. Now hurry up before I freeze that smug off you're stupid face."

Icy blue eyes glared deeply into golden irises and that was the only thing they were focused on. Jack didn't see Pitch's grey hand move up and grab onto him. Pitch easily threw Jack across the room and he landed only inches away were North's discarded sword lay. The rough landing knocked the wind out of his lungs but Pitch showed no mercy a his black scythe came into view with every step he took. There was a grin on his face. He could just end Jack right now if he had wanted to. With one quick movement, Pitch raised his scythe up in the air.

Then, he swung.

/

Jack gasped as his eyes snapped open. He was leaning against a wall in the hallway of North's workshop. He wasn't in a room with Pitch and he wasn't fighting the boogeyman anymore.

"Oi! Frost there you are!"

Bunnymund and Sandy had caught up with Jack as his mind took in what had just happened. It was just a dream. "I knew you were gonna get lost in 'ere Frostbite. You don't have any idea where ya goin do you? Well next time, give us a head up before just walkin out like that." Bunnymund told Jack. Sandy nodded in agreement with Bunnymund and Jack blinked a few times before responding.

"What? Oh yeah. Well maybe next time you should keep a better eye on me. So if we're done here I'll just be on my merry way."

Jack hovered in the air and turned their backs on them. He knew that they were only trying to help and that they were worried over him but it wasn't like every time he closed his eyes he almost died at the hands of the nightmare king right?

Right?

Not wanting Jack to disappear again, Sandy rode a cloud of dream sand and grabbed onto Jack's ear as if it were a leash.

"Hey Sandy let go!"

Sandy only raised an eyebrow at the boy who sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Alright fine."

The three guardians made their way through Santoff Clausen together. Sandy lead the way and Jack followed him with Bunnymund at his heels making sure he didn't run of again. They finally reached a door on the other side of the workshop that lead to the basement. Jack was a little hesitant to step inside after what he went through in his nightmare and he wished with all his might that what he saw was only a dream. What if this was only a dream? What if he had dreamt that he was dreaming and right now he was asleep? Sandy pushed open that large door revealing a staircase very similar to the one that Jack saw.

Sandy descended and motioned for Jack to follow. Hovering above the staircase, Jack slowly inched deeper into the bowels of North's workshop. The stairs creaked as Bunnymund walked down them and for a second he looked like he was about to fall but he swiftly moved to the next step. Not a single word was exchanged between either of the three guardians as they unlocked the door that held Pitch's cage inside. There was no space under the door's bottom so that no nightmare sand could slip beneath it.

Unlocking the door with a key made of golden dream sand, Sandy silently pushed it open and Jack could barely sit still in anticipation.

"Jack!"

Tooth shot out from the room the moment she saw Jack and she embraced him in a hug. Jack was relieved to find that she was still here. Looking over he shoulder, he saw North smiling at him while Pitch was locked away in a cage of dream sand looking defeated but at the same time patient. After being released by Tooth, Jack glided into the room holding the prison that held his enemy captive. North beamed up at Jack seeing him suspended in the air. He seemed less tired than he was before and he was awake and moving around with ease.

"Ah Jack! Good to see you've been feeling better." the Russian said to him in a jolly tone. He had both of his twin swords in close range and there wasn't a single colorful feather on the ground. Jack wouldn't tell them that he had fallen asleep in the hall way. Instead, he only nodded at North with a light hearted smile and turned to Pitch held securely in his confinement. Taking this moment to his advantage, Jack couldn't help but taunt Pitch.

"Oh what do we have here? Is it a little black weasel or a nice horse breeder?"

Pitch did make most of his fearlings horses and his figure did remind Jack of a weasel. Pitch only ignored Jack while hiding what he had in store for the boy. Only a few days left for Jack. How many was it? Nine days? Eight days? Whatever the amount was, Pitch knew that Jack was ready. All of those dreams were merely tests. They weakened his mind and opened a gateway for him. In fact, he had actually wanted to get capture by the guardians. They were fools to let Jack enter the same room he was held in. His target was only inches away from him. Even with his hands cuffed by golden chains while being trapped in a cage of dream sand, Pitch could still carry out his plans to take over Jack in front of his family. He would make sure they would be there to helplessly watch Jack Frost be painfully converted to the darkness.

He was growing impatient. Seeing Jack taunt him and laugh with the guardians irked his soul so very much. His mind was beginning to recover as he warmed up to the guardians. He needed to act fast before all of his work would be lost. Taking in precautions to not let the guardians see, a thin line of black sand began to trickle from Pitch's cage. It was thinner than a strand of silk so not even the keenest microscope could spot it. It would take time though, but the guardians needed Pitch and stalling was something Pitch could easily do.

* * *

**A/N: alright everyone, the big question about whether or not jack will be taken by pitch will be answered next chapter and i have a 3 day weekend so ill do my best to update fast  
**


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: this fic will be ending soon its already really long**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty Five

Jack and Sandy were about to head back. Five minutes had passed and Jack was already tired of having Pitch in his presence. Taunting him wasn't as fun as he thought considering that Pitch wouldn't even respond. He would just sit in that cage with his back turned to all of them. Not saying a word or even turning around to face them. They were all getting suspicious, which was another reason they wanted Jack to leave so soon.

"Well Pitch its been fun but I'll be on my way now." Jack said attempting to get a response from his enemy. Nothing. "I think you should get going Jack." North said. He didn't want Pitch to harm the boy again. Jack and Sandy turned around ready to leave. Tooth kept her eyes on Pitch ready for anything just in case he decided to suddenly attack. Bunnymund's tall ears picked up no sound that could be harmful to any of them but his guard was still up.

Sandy opened the door and stepped through it. He motioned for Jack to come through as well and the teen made his way across the room and was almost at the door but it slammed shut sealing him off.

"Hey!" Jack spun around to Pitch. On the outside, Sandy was pounding on the door and trying to unlock it but its was clogged with too much nightmare sand. His key made from dream sand was only consumed whenever he tried to use it and the nonexistent space between the door and floor made it impossible to slip any sand through.

"Pitch open the door!" Tooth shrieked at him. She knew that something bad was about to happen and she would make sure to protect Jack this time. Flying closer to Jack, Tooth zipped from lift to right cocking her head at the door like a bird. A frame of black sand had wrapped around the door's perimeter and you could hear the knocks being made by Sandy on the other side.

Bunnymund looked back at Pitch. Did the boogeyman forget that the Easter bunny could open magical rabbit holes? Bunnymund was about to tap the ground when two golden eye's turned to him. "Uh uh uh." Pitch said before multiple vines made up of black sand rose from the corners of the room and bound Bunnymund together. "Wha-Pitch let me go!" Bunnymund shouted at him. "Hold on Bunny!" North called out. He was about to make a move but the same fate fell upon him. Several black cords wrapped around his body and they pulled North's swords away from him. Seeing Bunny and North fall, Tooth and Jack did their best to try to save them but Pitch was way ahead of them.

"Are you two going to try to play the heroes in this game? Well I don't think so." Pitch said. Nightmare sand chained Tooth's wings to her body while Jack's limbs were pulled down to the ground with his staff being held captive by other black strands. He had done it. Pitch Black had captured them within seconds.

/

Sandy raced through the workshop. He had heard the cries of his team mates through the door and he knew that he had to find a way to break down the door. Flying high over a bustling group of elves, Sandy drove a cloud of dream sand into the working place where hundreds of yetis were working. One yeti, Phil, noticed the golden guardian zoom in with a distressed look planted on his face. They made eye contact and Sandy began to create sand images above his head frantically. Phil only stared at him as various golden figures flashed by too fast for him to makeout. The yeti gurgled something and shrugged. Sandy took a deep breathe and gathered his thoughts. He had to make this quick knowing that each moment the other guardians spent with Pitch could be their last.

Phil's eyes focused on the sand images. He saw the guardians struggling with Pitch standing over them while a door was in front of them. Then another image of the door being struck down replaced it and exclamation points appeared over Sandy's head. Phil nodded to show that he understood. They were going to break the door down.

/

"PITCH GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

"Don't even think about it!"

"You better hope we don't find you once we get out of this!"

Tooth, North, and Bunnymund were all hollering at Pitch. A few seconds ago he had just turned into a shadow and escaped his cage and was now walking over to where Jack was. Speaking of Jack, he was currently bound helplessly to the floor. He couldn't defend himself and the guardians were held captive in an entanglement of nightmare sand. Jack was silent as Pitch drew closer and closer with a wicked grin. Now the winter spirit had an idea of what was in store for him, and he was afraid. He was afraid of what may happen to the guardians once Pitch is done with his work. He was afraid he'll never be the same again. He was afraid he may never see his 'family' again.

"Don't be scared Jack, after today you'll have nothing to be scared of ever again." Pitch whispered into Jack's ear. he boogeyman was getting way too close for comfort. Behind them, three struggling guardians were trying to break free from the nightmare sand restraining them from getting to Jack or to Pitch. Where was Sandy? He was clever shouldn't he have thought up a well devised plan to get back into the room?

"Look at me boy." Pitch commanded to Jack. The teen only looked away rebelling him.

"No."

"If you don't obey me I can always force you."

"The day I'll obey you will be the day you'll get believers."

"Well, I guess today is my lucky day then."

Pitch yanked on Jack's hair making him let out a childish yelp. A cold grey hand touched the surface of Jack's forehead. His pupils shrank into pinpricks as Pitch concentrated and leaned in closer as he entered Jack's weakened mind. It wasn't as weak as it was before, but it wasn't back to its normal state so Pitch was allowed access.

"Just hold on Jack. I promise this will only hurt a lot."

"What are you going to do?"

"Oh I've decided to take you early. I was growing ever so impatient so I thought, 'why not?' and here I am. You can cancel all of those white Christmases you were planning. Oh and Bunny,"

Pitch turned to Bunnymund with his hands clasped together.

"You won't have to worry about Easter being snowed out anymore. For now."

Transforming into shadows, Pitch swirled around Jack burrowing deeper and deeper into the teen. "Jack!" North shouted as the winter spirit screamed in agony. Tooth was crying out in frustration as Jack was suffering so much and they could do nothing to help. They couldn't even touch him and they doubted that he could hear them over his shrieks that echoed throughout the room.

No.

No this can't be happening.

This isn't fair!

They didn't even come up with a plan yet how could Pitch do this? How could they have been so careless?

Bunnymund's ears picked up the sound of hurried footsteps over all of the screaming coming from Jack. They were heavy footsteps, and by what Bunny could tell they most likely belonged to some yetis. Darkness continued to swirl around Jack and shrouded him in nightmare sand. The three guardians couldn't see what Pitch was doing to him, but it wasn't good.

Something heavy began pounding on the door repeatedly. Again and again the door reinforced with nightmare sand shook as something was slammed against it. On the other side, Sandy was conducting three yetis as they slammed the door with a battling ram made from wood and etched with dream sand. Jack's free will was ticking away in the room as every painful second for him passed. The nightmares entering his body felt as if he was swallowing melted metal but it was also similar to the feeling of being cut apart on the inside by an icy dull blade.

His silver white hair began to turn black at the roots and his pale skin was turning a sickeningly grey color. "Jack try to fight it!"Bunnymund shouted to him but he was unheard as Jack's eyes were squeezed shut and all he could hear was the laughter and taunting of the nightmares consuming him.

_He's so weak. __I can't believe it took him this long to get a believer. Nobody even likes him. They all just feel sorry for him. He'll never be a real guardian. He can't even protect himself. Where's his family now? Nobody even likes winter it just brings sickness and death. This brat isn't even trying. Does he know that they will leave him someday? Nothing is ever meant to last and everything dies eventually. They'll just leave him in the end.  
_

The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees and the lights went out. Every attempt made by Sandy and the yetis to bust the door open was in vain as the nightmare sand coating the began to freeze solid. Then, as quickly it had happened, the nightmares vanished and there was silence in the room. Lying on the floor was Jack, but he had changed. A blueish black hoodie covered his body while grey panted hugged his legs_. _There were icy blue wrappings on the lower section of his pants and his skin was no longer a pale tone but instead a light gre_y._ His hair was fully black now but what about his eyes? They still remained shut until they suddenly snapped open.

Jack stood up taking in a deep breathe of the brisk air. He stood alone with his back turned to the guardians who were still wrapped in nightmare sand. But where was Pitch? Shouldn't he still be here? He had Jack on his side now so why would he leave? These questions filled the thoughts of the guardians as they anxiously awaited Jack to turn around. Slowly, Jack leaned down and picked up his staff. Black frost immediately coated the wooden staff as Jack finally turned around. His eyes were a yellow gold color, exactly like Pitch's and the frost on the dark hoodie was tinted blue and stood out on the fabric.

Then he started laughing.

This wasn't his normal laughter either. It wasn't happy or mischievous or fun. Instead, it was cruel and wicked. But that wasn't what made the guardians cringe. It was the voice. The voice coming out of Jack was not his. It sounded like Pitch's voice talking over Jack's and then it hit them. Pitch's plan all along was to take over Jack's mind. He literally meant taking it. That explained why Pitch wasn't standing with Jack, he didn't need to. The mind contained in Jack's body was not his, it was Pitch's. Jackson Overland Frost was gone.

* * *

**A/N: ok so i end this chapter here right now and tomorrow ill probably post the next chapter**


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: alright so i dont have that much to say so heres the chapter**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty Six

The door burst open sending shards of frozen black sand in every direction. They fell to the ground like broken glass. Each piece sharp and jagged. Sandy was at the door with whips at hand along with Phil and two other yetis behind him. Seeing Tooth, North, and Bunnymund tied up in reins, the golden guardian quickly released them from their bonds by touching them. The nightmare sand holding them was turned into gold wisps that dissolved into the sky.

"Hello Sanderson. Do you like the new look?"

Sandy spun around to see Jack but he was darker and his clothes were different along with his staff and eyes. His voice though, it was Pitch's voice talking over Jack's. Sandy glared at the form before him. He was too angry with Pitch to feel guilty at not being there in time to stop Pitch but that was in the past and this is the present. "Pitch let Jack go!" Tooth screamed at him. She was furious with Pitch and so were the other guardians. Pitch only laughed at her like how Jack laughs at Bunnymund.

"Oh Toothiana, even if I could I wouldn't. His body and mind now belong to me and I can do whatever I want with them."

"Give him back to us or-"

"Any kind of harm you oppose on me is also dealt onto Jack's body. You wouldn't want to hurt him would you?"

They didn't know what to do. Pitch was right. If they harm him then they harm Jack's body as well and if he regains control over his body they don't want Jack to wake up beaten and bruised. A sleek smile was spread upon Jack's face as the temperature in the room dropped. The guardians could see their breath in the air but Pitch was fine. He controlled the dark and the cold now. Black ice was on the floor where Pitch stood with his hood up over his head.

"Now its been fun, but I must be on my way now. I have some important business to be taken care of."

Jack's body turned around ready to take off. Not allowing Pitch to escape again, Sandy lashed out with his whips and the golden sand wrapped around the torso of Jack's dark body. "Keep your grip on him Sandy." North said to him. He did not want Pitch to leave with Jack's body and mind locked away. They didn't even know if Jack's mind was even alive. He could be compressed deep down in his own body and may not even know it or it could have been destroyed completely. Either way, Pitch was now inside Jack.

Sandy kept his eyes on Jack. His whips tightly held the boy and there was no means of him escaping. "Sandy look!" Bunnymund pointed out. The golden sand touching Jack had begun to freeze. The black ice spread further to the whips and Sandy had to drop them in order not to be frozen himself. "Did you really think that would work?" Pitch taunted to them. He smashed the black ice then Jack's body dispersed into shadows and he vanished out of sight leaving the guardians behind.

He was gone.

They had lost Jack to the nightmare king. Bunnymund threw his boomerangs down in a fit of anger and he swore out loudly. North just stared in shock at the black ice left behind on the ground while Sandy tried to calm Tooth who had multiple tears streaming from her bright eyes. "I- I don't believe it." she murmured. Tooth was sitting on the ground as her small hands caught the droplets that dripped from her chin. Jack Frost was part of their family, and they let Pitch take him away. Sandy knelt to the ground where the dark ice was. With a tap of his finger, it turned into a golden dolphin but it faded in a second.

How were they going to break the news to the kids? Mother Nature could probably take over Jack's job but he could never be replaced. What about Jamie? Those two were best friends. Nobody knew what to do anymore. They didn't know if Pitch destroyed Jack's mind or if he was just locking it away for later use. Their despair was cut short when North spoke up.

"Sandy,"

The guardian of dreams turned to the Russian.

"Do you think there's any way for us to bring him back?"

Sandy stared down solemnly and shrugged. There was a slim chance that Jack's mind could be buried deep deep down under all of the nightmares and darkness Pitch had brought into him but how would they spark it?

/

Pitch was flying over Burgess. He had never felt so alive. Not even when there were almost no believers left. He should have taken over Jack centuries ago. The only time he felt this powerful was during the dark ages when everyone was terrified of everything and everyone. Such extraordinary power, and it was all under the control of Pitch Black. He could even tap into Jack's mind if he wanted to but he was too busy at the moment. There was still one last thing to do, and it would surely break the guardians. Pitch wanted to make sure that the guardians were there to witness Jack murder his first believer.

/

"Jack come on wake up! Wake up Jack!"

A small voice woke Jack up from his rest. Darn it. He was sleeping so peacefully too. Now his head was spinning and- wait, he was sleeping. He was sleeping peacefully with no nightmares that had tried to kill him. Jack sprung up wide awake now. His vision was a little fuzzy but that didn't matter right now. He could be dreaming which meant that he could be in danger.

"You're not dreaming Jack, you're not even asleep."

There was that voice again. It sounded so familiar though, and young. The voice reminded Jack of Pippa but it seemed a bit older than her and more mature. Jack suddenly realized he was in a forest. Not just any forest, _his_ forest, but it was different. It looked the way it did when he first woke up from that lake. Snow coated the pine trees while icicles hung from branches. Above his head was the sun rising but that wasn't what startled Jack the most. Standing behind him, was a girl. She had long brown hair tied into a braid with a plain brown dress on her small body. She had on gloves and a shawl that was much too small for her but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were tinted blue and there were dark bags under her eyes. She had no pupils, each eye was just a white sclera.

Jack could see the veins in her face and she looked like she was around eleven or twelve but who was she? How did she know his name? Why did she look so familiar? The girl ran up to Jack and hugged him. She was about five one but her embrace was so cold.

"Jack I've been waiting so long I knew you would come!"

"What?"

"I knew you would come home! I've missed you so much!"

"I...I have no idea what you're talking about. Who are you anyway?"

"Don't you recognize me?"

"No."

"Of course you do Jack! Its me Pippa!"

Jack broke apart from her as soon as she said she was Pippa. He was shocked. No, it can't be. What the heck is going on here? Where is he?

"But, wait what happened to your eyes? Why are they like that?"

"Because Jack,"

Pippa stared up at her older brother.

"I'm dead, and so are you."

* * *

**A/N: more about Pippa's death will be revealed next chapter so anyway tell me what you think :3**


	37. Chapter 37

**A/N: this fic is already at 37 chapters and it was only supposed to have 31 but oh well. but seriously, i read the reviews and part of me is laughing and the other half is screaming because wow. so i have one RotG fanfic in the planning phase, one being written, and a guardians of childhood fanfic being planned and those should be up once im done with this fanfic. oh and i would love anyone forever if they drew this fic as long as i can see it because nobody has ever drawn me something before .A.**

Chapter Thirty Seven

"WHAT? What do you mean I'm dead I can't be!"

He was Jack Frost, the embodiment of winter. There was no way he could die he was immortal. Besides, he already died when he drowned in that lake he can't die a second time right? Jack had no idea what to think. What if he really was dead? What would happen to the guardians? What would Jamie say? Who would bring snow days to Burgess? Jack sat down in the cold snow and buried his face in his hands. He wanted to scream, to cry out that he wasn't dead and that he was still alive.

What if Pippa was right? What if he really was dead? Wait, Pippa is dead so her eyes are blank. Jack suddenly got up. He needed to see his reflection. He had to see if his eyes were blank and pure white.

"If I'm actually dead, then can I see my reflection just to check?"

"Sure Jack! You can see your reflection in the lake follow me!"

Jack noticed that Pippa seemed bit too happy that he was dead. Then again, maybe she was just glad to see him again? The last time she was with her brother was over three hundred years ago when he had died while saving her. Jack followed Pippa to the frozen lake. Not once was she hesitant and there wasn't a single moment in which she would flinch at all.

They reached the frozen lake within a few minutes but to Jack it only seemed like seconds. Pippa turned around to face him.

"Go ahead Jack, take a look."

Jack obeyed her and leaned over the edge of the land to get a look at himself. He peered down at his reflection in the ice and his heart sank. Staring back at him, was a copy of himself with blank white eyes and paler than usual skin. The dark spots under his eyes stood out along with the ice blue veins in his dead face. He looked like a corpse. Then again, when he was alive he was preserved in the frozen dead body of what he used to be before becoming Jack Frost. Maybe that was why his teeth were so white all the time.

/

All four guardians were in the library at Santoff Clausen. They were all flipping through the pages of every book North owned. There just had to be a solution to all of this. Surely they would be able to find an answer on how to bring back Jack if he was even still alive. Tooth had called upon some of her mini fairies to help with the research. They were all as upset as she was and why wouldn't they? All of the mini fairies adored Jack and they all swooned over him. Especially his teeth.

Baby Tooth frantically scanned page after page of a book about nightmares. She was very close to Jack, and she was devastated when she found out what had happened. She was also angry. Baby Tooth had never wished so hard to just shove her pointy needle like nose in Pitch's eyes for doing that to Jack. There were ten other fairies skimming through the books and pulling them off shelves.

"Ugh! We'll never find anything at this rate!" Tooth exclaimed. She tossed another book into a pile. They had all been searching for quite a while and they had gotten nowhere. "Calm down Tooth. We'll find a way." Bunnymund answered her. As the guardian of hope he had to keep everyone's spirits up no matter how much he doubted that Jack was still alive.

Sandy picked up an old book that was as tall as he was and handed it to North. "What is it Sandy? Is there something in here?" North asked hoping that this book held the answer. Sandy only shook his head and indicated that the book was written in Russian. Disappointed, North only answered 'Oh.' before opening it up. They were all jittery trying to find a hint in the vast amount of books in North's library. None of them have even gotten close to finding out what Pitch had done to Jack. Baby Tooth suddenly began to squeak and at once Tooth was at her side.

"What is it Baby did you fine something?"

They were all desperate for an answer and everyone in the room lit up when Baby Tooth nodded her tiny head and directed Tooth to a small black book. Grasping the hard leather cover, Tooth's bright eyes moved left and right depicting what the symbols in the pages meant. It was written in a dead language but Tooth has been around long enough to learn them all. She traveled the world so many times in her long life that she had picked up multiple languages.

"Everyone I got something!" she yelled out. The other guardians turned to Tooth who was hovering in the middle of the room with a black book in her hands that looked like it would fall apart any minute. "Well don't just flutter there tell us!" Bunnymund responded. Sandy nodded. It was urgent for them to attain any kind of lead they could get as to finding out what they should do. "Bunny is right, Tooth." North added.

"Corpus latrunculus,"

"What?"

"Corpus latrunculus, its in Latin but its translates to body snatchers."

"Well we know that Pitch took Jack's body but what about his mind?"

"Hold on let me look,"

Tooth read the words written in Latin and then reread them in regular English.

"Corpus latrunculus is a taboo form of magic that is no longer tolerated to use. It involves one transferring them self into the body of another giving them total control of that body. However, the victim's mind becomes locked away however their captor wishes it to be. The victim's consciousnesses is constricted in their own body until death falls upon them and whoever took over their body has complete control both physically and mentally. To reverse the effects, the victim or a helper must force the invader out of their body before it is too late."

Tooth closed the book after finishing reading. Everyone was stunned but hopeful. The good news was that Jack was still alive, the bad news was that he was slowly suffocating in his own body and he probably didn't even know it. His mind may have been locked away in a nightmare by Pitch. "New plan!." North bellowed out. "We just get Pitch out of Jack in time."

"And how do ya suppose we do that?" Bunnymund asked. North turned to Sandy. "Sandy! Do you think you can use your dream sand to draw out Pitch?"

Sandy nodded his head.

"Great! We have chance then!"

Within seconds everyone was gathered a the globe. "Do you really think this would work North?" Tooth asked. She wasn't entirely sure about this plan of theirs. The last plan they had failed miserably when they all went into Jack's dream. Was this one going to end up like the last one? "What else can we do?" North responded. "Now, Jack is still child, so he has special light on globe."

North pointed to a bright blue light on the globe as it flew over Burgess. "There! Pitch is over Burgess." he pointed out. Tooth flew up to the globe and noticed how bright it was but is was slowly dimming down.

"We have to hurry his light is starting to die down!"

"Right! Everyone to sleigh!"

North lead them all to the sleigh. He was too stoic at the moment to joke at Bunnymund for not objecting to riding in the sleigh instead of taking his rabbit holes.

/

"So if I'm actually dead because of Pitch, then how did you die?'

Jack was facing his sister as she looked at the ground and avoided his gaze. She seemed upset and sheepish about telling Jack how she had died.

"O-Oh I'm sorry Pippa if you want you don't-"

"You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?"

"How I died."

"I, no."

"Here, since we're both dead I can show you how I died."

The surroundings around the two siblings had suddenly switched to night time. Jack looked around in astonishment but Pippa shushed him.

"Shhh. I''m going to show you it."

"Show me what?"

"How I froze to death."


	38. Chapter 38

**A/N: okay so a lot will be happening in the next chapters and i have another 3 day weekend so ill be doing my best to update. also, ITS SNOWING ASDFGHJKL but its a shame i have a cold and cant go outside to enjoy it :I.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty Eight

His name, was Jack Frost, and that was all he knew. The moon had told him so, and that was the last time the moon ever told him anything. Upon further investigation Jack had found out he could fly along the winds, create ice and snow, freeze water, and people could walk through him. Nobody ever saw or heard him. He was just a myth, a figure of speech. Even though nobody could hear him, Jack continued to explore this village called Burgess. It was currently Christmas day there and after water freezing some water, the nonexistent boy rode the winds back to the frozen lake. He had gotten tired of watching children babble on about what they received for Christmas. Everyone seemed to have gotten what they wanted, except him. He still had no idea who he was or what he was supposed to do.

As he walked on the ice he left complex footsteps that looked like frozen ferns on the surface. A light snow began to rain down as Jack looked up at the sky. It was in the evening, and everybody was celebrating Christmas in the village. Nobody was ice skating today, nobody seemed to come to the ice. Jack had seen people in the forest chop down trees but whenever they would come near the frozen lake they would just avoid it and there was a sad look on their faces, as if something had happened at the lake that Jack was unaware of.

A snowflake blew in the air and landed on Jack's nose. He playfully swatted it away but as he moved around, he noticed something. It was something new, it was a girl. She looked like she was about twelve years old and Jack had recognized her as one of the many people who had walked through him. He didn't know her name or who she was, but Jack's curiosity go the best of him. He hovered over to the girl walking through the snow.

"Hello?"

There was no response. Jack new his efforts were pointless but he waved his hand in the girl's face anyways. She only continued to walk past him until she reached the lake. Her head was tilted down as if she was upset or longing. The girl then placed a green plant on the ice that had these red berry looking objects in it. Then she looked as if she was about to cry when she saw how bare the ice was. Jack noticed this and got closer to her.

"Hey kid are you okay? You seem pretty down."

Taking a closer look, Jack saw tears in her brown eyes.

"Jack..."

A surge shot through Jack's entire body and he jumped back. That was his name, she said his name! Jack started to get excited. "C-can you see me?" he asked hopefully.

"Do you know who I-"

"Jack please come back! I'm so sorry but please come back don't leave me!"

The girl was shaking as tears flowed from her eyes like a waterfall.

"I-I'm sorry but please this isn't funny! Jack please!"

She was a wreck. The sobbing girl crumpled to the ground and began wiping away her tears. Jack could only stand there wand watch her. He couldn't call out or touch her or do anything. After a few minutes, the girl took in a deep breath and got up. Jack saw that her face was still wet and her eyes had become red and puffy from crying so much in the bitter cold. Her quiet breathes were seen in the brisk air as she calmed down and got up. Wiping her face one last time, the girl turned around.

"Hey wait!" Jack called out to her. He ran ahead of her and started asking her questions.

"W-Were you talking to me? Do you know who-"

He was cut off when she walked through him. Jack didn't even notice that the snow had started to come down heavier and faster. The clouds had turned grey and they covered the sky as more snow brutally came down. Following the girl to the village, Jack walked past all of the Christmas decorations and kept his eyes on her. She may not be able to see or hear him, but maybe she knows who he is?

"Pippa! What are you doing outside it looks like there's going to be a storm!" a middle aged woman said. She was standing in the doorway of a small home that looked like it was about to fall apart any second. She had long brown hair tied into a neat bun and had dark brown eyes. A long dress with an apron was on her small frame while a fireplace was homing a warm fire behind her.

"I-I'm sorry momma. I was at the lake-"

The woman pulled Pippa into a hug while tears streamed down her face as well.

"Baby I'm sorry but, that was so long ago. It's been three years."

"I know but, Jack wouldn't just leave right?"

A cold breeze blew past them and Pippa sniffled before sneezing.

"Come inside dear, I think you may be coming down with something."

Jack watched as the woman pulled Pippa into the house. Looking around, Jack saw that other people were shutting their doors as well until he was the only one left outside. The snow was now coming down in a flurry but Jack didn't notice as he peered through the window of the house Pippa was in. Who was she? How did she know his name? Why did she look so familiar?

Pippa and her mother sat down in on top of a bed. The fireplace was providing warmth but Pippa's nose was still runny. Her mother placed a hand on Pippa's forehead and sighed.

"Pippa you were already coming down with a fever and I think being out there so long just made it worse."

It was cold that night. Snow was piled up to the windows and it blocked out the door. Jack was frustrated, he was so close to finding out who he was yet he was still so far away. Pippa's mother looked out the window and past the snow. There was a full moon in the night sky, and the moonlight glistened over the white snow. It was still falling, and that worried her. Her daughter had caught a fever and the fire in the fireplace was beginning to die down. There was too much snow blocking the door to go out and she knew this small and dainty home would not protect them. Ever since her husband died in a hunting accident her son had been the man of the house.

Her son was supposed to repair the roof above their heads the day after he took his sister ice skating. Then he never came back and the widow had turned into a single parent with a single child. She had done her best to repair the roof herself but after three years, it was beginning to weaken again. It creaked as snow piled on top of it. Her last child, Pippa, was asleep in her bed. There were various blankets on her body as to keep her warm during the chilling night. The fire went out in the fireplace and all that was left was ashes.

Pippa's mother lit a candle. It was their last candle, and she placed it on the night stand next to Pippa's bed. The temperature had started to drop in the house. The only heat they had came from one measly candle that was slowly shrinking in size under the tiny flame. Pippa sneezed in her sleep before shivering. She felt so cold, so very cold. Just then the wind blew open the window letting snow fly in and causing the widow to yelp. She hastily closed the window as the snow that blew in gathered on the wooden floor. It was freezing now, as if the wind that caused the window to open also made her house's temperature drop ten degrees.

Jack inched closer to the sleeping child. He was worried about her so he came into her house. He wanted to know why she was so upset today yet there was a part of him that made him feel like it was his duty to protect her too. "So your name is Pippa huh?" he said while looking down at her. He could see where the tears had dried on her face but she was growing paler. Jack just assumed it was because of her fever. He suddenly winced as Pippa's mother walked through him and knelt down beside her sick daughter. She was shivering as well and her breath was now visible in the air. Pippa was also shivering under her thin blankets.

Noticing that he had made the situation worse, Jack looked around for a way out. The door was blocked by snow making the window his only means of escape. Silently inching the window open, Jack took one glance look at Pippa. Her mother was hugging her now. Jack didn't know whether it was to keep her warm or if it was out of love. He moved away from the window and took a step towards Pippa and her mother. Pippa's lips were tinted blue now.

"Hey miss, I think there's something wrong with her other than being sick." he said to Pippa's mother. "I think she needs some serious help."

Jack saw the thin blankets covering Pippa's body. Judging by how her house looked, Jack inferred that they were very poor. As time passed through the night, Jack noticed that Pippa was still in her mother's arms. He didn't see her chest rise and fall and he didn't see her mouth or nose move either. "Pippa?" he asked. It felt weird calling Pippa by her name.

There was no response.

Jack nudged her body with his staff and she slumped from her mother's grasp.

"Pippa!" shrieked her mother. The woman got down to the floor where her daughter was lying while Jack watched the seen unfold. He was anxious and his heart was beating faster and faster as he watched Pippa's mother.

"Pippa? Pippa wake up! Wake up!"

Scared, the widow checked her daughters pulse before gasping. Tears formed in her eyes as she hugged her daughter's body to her own.

"N-No! Not my daughter! Not my baby! Please don't take her she's only twelve!"

Pippa was the only thing left for her. Being a widow to two children was hard enough, losing her only son was torture, but losing her last child was unbearable. Jack watched in horror as the mother wailed. She was still holding Pippa's cold body. Tears began to stain the girl's clothes as she remained still. The tears that landed on the floor quickly turned to frost but that didn't matter.

She was gone.

The last member of her family was gone.

First her husband, then her son, and now her daughter.

It would soon be her turn to go soon. It was still freezing inside the house as the candle died out. Snow surrounded the weak house and there was nothing but darkness and despair on the inside.

/

The scenery changed yet again and Jack was back in the forest with Pippa. He stared into nothing as he sat down in the snow and pulled his legs to his chest. That was why that voice seemed to familiar, it belonged to the girl that had died that night. It belonged to his little sister. Pippa wrapped her arms around Jack.

How could he do this?

"Its okay, we're together now right?"

Pippa patted her brother's head trying to soothe him. Jack was silent. He was lost in guilt and in his own thoughts. If only he had known back then, that the cold could be dangerous. If only he'd known that an average of one thousand people would freeze to death each year. If only he'd learn how to control his powers back then.

"Jack?"

Pippa looked at him through blank white eyes. They were even now. Jack drowned because of Pippa and Pippa died because of Jack.

"You're not going to leave again right?"

"No, I promise."

He pulled his sister into a hug and she hugged him back. Something was till bothering Jack though. Why was Pippa acting so calm about this? Was it because she could finally see her brother again? But still, it was as if there was something she wasn't telling Jack.


	39. Chapter 39

**A/N: theres snow everywhere and i cant enjoy it :T**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Thirty Nine

"Should we tell Jamie?" Tooth asked. All of the guardians were flying over the forest of Burgess in the sleigh. "No. He will only get worried and try to go after Jack." North responded. "We can't risk another life." Jamie had the right to know what was going on with his best friend, but that didn't mean the guardians would tell him. It was too dangerous for him and it was for his own good. They knew how much Jamie meant to Jack and he would be devastated if he found out anything had happened to him.

As they drew closer, Sandy could sense the nightmares but he it also felt cold. Through the entire sleigh ride Bunnymund had been gripping onto the edge of the sleigh for dear life. He was nervous, and not just because he was miles above the ground in a flying deathtrap with 'no bloody seat belts' and a reckless driver but also because of Jack. They were all worried about him. He was very powerful when his emotions would get the better of him but now that Pitch was inside of him, they didn't know what to expect. None of them wanted to hurt Jack, he has no control over what he's doing.

"North! Look out!" hollered Bunnymund. North barely had time to swerve the sleigh to the left before a fearling rammed into it. Except this fearling was more solid, and icy. Another fearling made of black ice collided with the side of the sled and ice began to form where it touched. The force of the fearling made the sleigh ricochet and Bunnymund tumbled out and was now hanging onto the side for dear life.

"Don't worry Bunny I got you!" Tooth yelled over the sound of freezing air gushing past them. She flew over to Bunnymund and grabbed his paw.

"Just don't let go-"

"Why the bloody hell would I let go?"

Sandy provided assistance in pulling Bunnymund back into the sleigh. "Watch it next time North." he growled.

"Sorry Bunny, it won't happen again."

"It better not."

Sandy jumped up and pointed to an old bed frame in the middle of a forest clearing. "Everyone hold on!" North announced before the sleigh dived down. Behind them, an army of icy fearlings pursued them. "Keep her steady North." Bunnymund said before standing up and hurling a dozen exploding eggs at the fearlings. For every fearling that exploded in a shimmer of dark ice three more replaced it. Tooth flew up to the fearlings and as she spun in the air, her wings made contact with them but they were made of ice and too hard for her wings to break them.

Extending his whips, Sandy swatted at each icy nightmare that came close to them. "North there's too many we're going to have to find another way." Tooth said while dodging another fearling. There was an endless amount of fearlings surrounding Pitch's lair. Sandy nodded in agreement. His dream sand couldn't convert the fearlings because they were made of ice and nightmare sand. Another fearling rushed past them and this time, they couldn't evade it. The fearling crashed into one of the reindeer and it began to freeze over causing the other reindeer to become dragged down. "Everyone brace for impact!" North yelled as another fearling froze one of the sleigh's wings.

/

Jack had started to get suspicious. Pippa was acting as if everything was okay when her brother had just died again for the second time and then he witnessed his own sister die at the hands of him. There was no trace of her ever feeling remorse or being upset. If she was his dead twelve year old sister, shouldn't she be acting less mature about this? Pippa realized what Jack was thinking and she grabbed his hand while glancing up at him.

"I've been here for long time Jack. I was so confused when you weren't here and I had no idea what had happened to you until I started to watch over you from up here. Momma and Papa have been watching too."

Jack didn't respond. He was still zoning out in his thoughts and he didn't hear a word his sister said.

"Oh! Jack I have something for you!"

"What is it?"

"Cover your eyes and don't peak until I say so."

Deciding to tag along with her, Jack covered his face with his hands.

"Jack I said no peaking!"

"I'm not peaking."

"Yes you are! I can see where your fingers are spaced out in front of your eyes."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Pippa crossed her arms.

"Jack would you please just cover your eyes?"

"Alright fine."

Jack covered his eye properly this time.

"Okay, open!"

Taking his hands off his eyes, Jack saw Pippa holding his staff out to him. He stared at the piece of wood dumbfounded. Where did that come from?

"My, my staff..."

"Yeah!"

"But where did you get it?"

"We're dead so whatever we remember we can get and i remember you using this to save me."

Jack picked up his staff and frost coated the wood as his skin touched it.

"Oh! Jack I have an idea!"

"What?"

"Can we have a snowball fight like we used to back when both of us were alive?"

Honestly, Jack didn't remember how they used to have snowball fights back when he was human but it couldn't be that different right? When he saw her face and how childish she was looking Jack smiled. Just because he was dead that didn't mean that the guardian of fun couldn't have a snowball fight with his little sister.

"Well Pippa, I don't know."

"But Jack-"

Pippa was cut off when Jack threw a clump of snow in her face before running of laughing. Pippa started to laugh as well and started chasing after her brother.

"No fair! You caught me off guard!"

"There's no rules in a snowball fight!"

Jack threw another snowball at Pippa and this time she ducked and responded by throwing a snowball at Jack's shoulder.

/

Pitch had a sadistic grin on his face. He was about to reap havoc as the nightmare king and as Jack Frost. His dark hood was pulled over his black hair as he gripped his staff etched with nightmare sand. Vanishing into the shadows, Pitch flew down into Burgess. There were many times where the wind had tired to stop him but it was no use, he was too powerful to be stopped by an inferior little gust.

Golden eyes looked down on the sleeping town. There were wisps of dream sand in the air as the children dreamed in their sleep. They were smiling in their warm bed not expecting anything or anyone. Pitch couldn't help but laugh to himself at how wrong they were. Frost was covering the windows of each home and with a wave of his staff, a creature of darkness rose from the frost and seeped into the dreams of every single child. Their beautiful dreams turned into horrendous nightmares as they starting shivering from the cold.

Children were tossing and turning in their sleep. Some were crying, and some were screaming. Within seconds their parents were at their side trying to calm them down but they also had blankets wrapped around them. It was as if every heater in every building had become frozen.

Pitch balanced on his staff. He never knew Jack could balance this well. He listened to the tormented children while he decided to start a blizzard. Ice covered the roads making it impossible to drive on while water pipes everywhere froze. Deciding he had had enough fun for now, Pitch flew over to Jamie's house. It wasn't hard to find, it was the only house with a child staring through the window. Jamie had a nightmare that woke him up and because he was awake he had seen the shadows move outside until they infected the dreams.

He was the only child who wasn't afraid.

Instead, Jamie was waiting. He knew the guardians would come to save everyone. He knew that Jack would come too. Jamie hadn't seen Jack for months and he just assumed Jack was off doing guardian stuff or spreading winter to different parts of the world.

There was suddenly a tapping noise in Jamie's bedroom that startled him.

"Hello?"

Jamie turned on his flashlight and shined it in his room. There was nobody with him, as far as he could see. Jamie didn't notice the shadows under his bed. He was completely unaware that he wasn't alone, he was with the boogeyman.

Black ice began to swirl on the floor and out from under Jamie's bed. The child saw the ice and got curious and excited at the same time. He wasn't scarred, he knew that his best friend was here. There was only one person who could do this with ice, and his name was Jack Frost. But why was the ice so dark?

"Hello Jamie, did you miss me?"

The sound of Jack's voice caught Jamie off guard. It sounded like Jack, but it also sounded like someone was talking over him. It sounded like Pitch and Jack were talking at the same time. Jamie stayed in his bed. Was Pitch here? Was Jack here too? Jamie remembered that Jack said he would always be there to protect him from Pitch. Shining his flashlight around his room, Jamie tried to pinpoint where he had heard the voices. He shivered as the temperature dropped in his room. The young boy looked over his bed side and was met with a pair of two golden eyes staring back.

"And I thought you would never find me."

Jamie shined his flashlight and saw Jack but he was different. His skin was grey and his eyes were a golden yellow. His silver white hair was now pitch black and his clothes were different too. The hoodie he was wearing was a dark navy blue while his pants were a faded brown color. Even the frost on his clothes were different. It was much darker than it was before and black sand that was frosted over covered his staff.

"Jack?" he asked. "What happened? Why do you look like that?"

"Oh I'm afraid the Jack that you know is no more child."

/

Pippa ran through the snow while laughing. Jack was flying above her head and making it snow. She made a snowball and hid it behind her back as her brother landed in front of her.

"Well Pippa I-"

Splat.

Jack wiped the snow off of his face while his sister giggles at her success.

"Oh so now we're playing like that are we?"

A snowball formed in Jack's hand and Pippa ducked behind a tree while it whizzed past her.

"Ha! You missed!"

"Did I?"

The snowball that had passed Pippa moments ago was blown back by the wind and hit her in the back of her head. Jack playfully laughed with his sister as they continued to pelt each other with snow. As they grew tired, the dead siblings flopped down in the freshly fallen snow. They watched the clouds above their head float by and while they relaxed, something was still eating away at Jack. Pippa was acting like the last time she ever saw him was a few months ago, not over three hundred years ago. Shouldn't she have been more excited? Maybe he was just over thinking this. Maybe his mind was just playing more tricks. Jack sat up and brushed off the snow on his clothes.

"Well Pippa, its been fun but I have to get back to being alive."

He had been having second thoughts about actually being dead, but it was probably just all in his head.

"What? No! You can't leave so soon Jack you just got here! You promised you wouldn't leave!"

Pippa had sprung up and grabbed onto Jack's arm.

"You can't go so soon!"

"Pippa listen I'm so sorry bu, I'm a guardian. I have duties to fulfill and a battle to win. Trust me, I don't want to leave you but I have to."

"But I'll miss you!"

Jack frowned. He didn't want Pippa to be longing for him. She had been through enough when he had fallen through that lake because of her. As an official guardian, Jack had a duty to protect children but what if they were dead? What's he supposed to do? Should he stay or should he go?

/

Icy fearlings were rampaging through the town as the guardians arrived. "We have to find Pitch before this gets worse." North said. "What about the children?" Tooth asked. "We have to protect them."

"We'll split up. You and Bunny will stay here and do what you can while Sandy and I will go after Jack."

Tooth nodded before turning to Bunnymund.

"Did you hear that Bunny?"

"Aye."

Bunnymund pulled out his boomerangs and Tooth took off into the night sky. Sandy took North and together they flew on a cloud of dream sand. Sandy drove the cloud to Jamie's house just to check up on him. There was always a chance that Pitch may be there since Jamie was Jack's first believer. Slashing through another fearling, North looked around for any sign of their enemy. Meanwhile, Sandy had crafted a canon out of sand and was launching cannonballs made of dream sand at the fearlings. Each on he hit exploded and shards of ice flew in every direction as if it were glass.

They ignored the falling snow as they reached Jamie's house. It was colder here than any other part of the city. Inside his room, Jamie was huddling under his blankets for warmth and his face lit up when he saw North and Sandy fly in through his window.

"Guys look out!"


	40. Chapter 40

**A/N: alright this fic is coming to an end soon D:**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Forty

"Guys look out!"

Jamie pointed at North and Sandy and they barely dodged a blast of dark ice that shot past them. Rising from the shadows, Pitch stood between Jamie and the guardians grinning. "Oh hello Sandy, North. I didn't expect you two to be here." he said as he sat on the crook of Jack's staff etched with frozen black sand. Sandy entered Jamie's room through the window while North went up to the roof to go down the chimney since he was too large to fit. Jamie leaped out of his bed and ran past Jack's body. Standing behind Sandy, the young boy kept his eyes locked on his best friend.

"Sandy what happened to Jack?" he asked.

The guardian of dreams sighed while Pitch smirked at him.

"Go on Sanderson, tell the boy the truth. You shouldn't lie to him."

"Tell me what? What's going one? Why does Jack look like that? And what happened to his voice?"

Sandy took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy. They weren't supposed to tell Jamie what was going on with Jack. Jamie was just a child, knowing that his new best friend spent almost three months almost dying every time he shut his eyes just to have his body and mind taken over by the boogeyman in one night would devastate him. Knowing that he would regret breaking North's orders of keeping the topic of Jack's condition from Jamie, Sandy prepared to tell Jamie the truth while still keeping it vague and leaving out the nightmares preventing Jack from sleeping for the past few months. He would keep this short and simple by just telling Jamie Pitch was inside Jack's body.

A golden figure of Pitch and Jack formed in the air for Jamie to see. More sand swirled around Jack while Pitch flew inside of him.

"S-So did Pitch go inside Jack?"

Sandy nodded.

"But what happened to him them?

More dream sand swirled into more pictures. A tiny Jack was locked away in a chest and the holder of the key happened to be Pitch.

"Pitch locked him away?"

The sandman nodded again while Pitch just rolled his eyes already sick of just being in the background. He decided to play with he two beings and zapped a few icicles at their feet. Just as he was about to warp into the shadows and leave, Pitch was interrupted when the door to Jamie's room smacked him into the wall as North flung it open.

"What happened where is Pitch?" he asked. Sandy and Jamie pointed to the door that swung back as Pitch regained himself. There was a bruise on Jack's grey forehead but Pitch had felt the impact. He shook his head before sending a chunk of black ice at North feeling discouraged that he was struck by the door to a child's bedroom. North's sword batted the ice back and it hit Pitch in the stomach causing him to stumble back. Using this moment to his advantage, Sandy extended a whip to wrap around Jack's staff and snatch it out from Pitch while he got back up.

Pitch looked at Sandy as he held his staff that was just a regular wooden stick now that it was free from Jack's dark grasp.

"It doesn't matter if I have that piece of wood or not." he said while smiling. A replica of Jack's staff was crafted from nightmare sand and Pitch used his new icy powers to freeze it over to create a new staff for himself. Sandy made a shield as a snowball made from ice and nightmare sand was hurled a his head. "Guys you can't fight in my room someone will hear you!" Jamie called out. He did not want his parents to walk into his room to find pieces of shattered ice littering his floor in the middle of the night.

Sandy knew that Jamie was right. He couldn't fight against Pitch while they were in the small room of a nine year old who had a sleeping family in the other rooms. Sandy signaled North to get Jamie out of here and to open the window. Obeying Sandy, North opened the door and grabbed Jamie. He took the boy outside after popping out of the chimney while Sandy and Pitch stayed inside.

/

Tooth flew up as another fearling rampaged towards her. It missed her by a long shot and crashed into the building behind her causing an explosion of sharp ice to be sent in every direction. A few feet away Bunnymund leaped from rooftop to rooftop throwing exploding eggs onto the icy fearlings below. A mirage of colorful and bright smoke filled the air as the fearlings were vanquished.

"There's too many of them for just the two of us."

"Just hold out a little longer."

North and Sandy better hurry up and save Jack from Pitch. It felt like a tsunami of icy fearlings was plowing through the town. Tooth zipped past Bunnymund with a trail of fearlings behind her. With every sharp turn she made her predators weren't swift enough and they collided into the walls of various tall buildings. Opening up a rabbit hole, Bunnymund leaped down it and popped back up in front of Jamie's house. There he saw North holding Jack's wooden staff and Jamie.

"Where's Pitch?" he asked but his answer was soon given to him when Jack's body was hurled through the window of Jamie's bedroom. Sandy stood at the open window dusting off his hands. There was a slight trickle of blood coming from Jack's forehead that they would have to apologize to him about later. Pitch brushed some snow off of himself and with a wave of his staff, snowmen popped out of the ground by themselves but these were no ordinary snowmen. Each figure had a wicked grin with teeth sharp as knives and they moved towards the sandman ready to kill.

Bunnymund threw an egg at Pitch as he turned. The boogeyman measly caught the projectile with ease and he smirked at the thrower.

"You stupid rabbit, did you seriously think that I-"

Pitch was thrown off as the egg exploded in a puff of pink smoke that blew him off the ground. Jack was sure going to feel sore after this.

"Who's stupid now mate?"

Pitch growled as he got back up. North handed Jamie to Bunnymund as he aided Sandy in trying to defeat the snowmen that had formed. His twin swords slashed through them as Sandy had a slingshot made from golden dream sand which he used to fire pellets at the snowmen which quickly exploded after making contact. With North and Sandy once again occupied, Pitch used this moment to his advantage. The tooth fairy was off somewhere else in the city dealing with other fearlings so the Easter bunny was alone with Jamie Bennett and the boogeyman who was in control of the body of Jack Frost.

"Bunny what's he going to do?" Jamie whispered.

"Just stay behind me Jamie"

Taking out his boomerangs, Bunnymund readied himself for anything that Pitch would throw at him.

/

"Jack please stay!" Pippa wailed as she hugged Jack's thin torso. The older brother wrapped his arms around her as her tears trailed down his forearm.

"Pippa listen, I'm sorry but I'm a guar-"

"You don't have to be a guardian! You can stay here with me!"

Pippa gazed up at Jack's white blank eyes. This wasn't easy for either of them. This moment reminded Jack of the time he became a guardian on his frozen lake in front of all the kids. Jamie looked so upset when he found out that Jack had to leave, but after an exchange of touching words he ended up being okay.

"Pippa, I think you should know that just because I'm leaving, it doesn't mean that I'll be gone from your heart."

"But you don't even know how to leave!"

"I'll figure something out. I've already got a few theories about how-"

"No, Jack you can't go. You can't leave me again!"

Pippa's voice got higher as she shrieked. Within a split second the forest they were in disappeared. Instead, it was replaced by a nightmare that would come out of a child's bedtime story. The sky was a burning shade of red while the trees had turned black and dead. Their branches were bare and all of the snow melted away. The grass turned brown as black sand spread across the surface as a howling wind blew in the air.

Standing in the middle of all of the chaos, was Pippa. She wasn't crying anymore, instead her blank white eyes glowed as if they were filled with lights. Her skin had turned grey while her brown hair became black. Trailing off of her was a black aura that became wisps in the air around her.

Realization struck Jack as the peaceful setting around him became a haunting nightmare. He backed away from Pippa. This isn't real, none of this is real. Jack was just in a dream that was only a nightmare in disguise. This was not the little sister he had saved, this was just someone who came from the shadows.

"JACK YOU PROMISED!" she screeched.

All of the innocence left Pippa's voice and instead it was filled with venom. She sounded like a monster. The wind only blew faster around her as the moon shined in the red sky. Not knowing what to do, he ran. Jack knew his staff was around her somewhere. He remembered that Pippa-

Oh.

That's right, Pippa gave it to him.

The same Pippa that was made of nightmare sand just like this one.

Jack shook his head. No, this wasn't Pippa, it was just a nightmare. Each step he took only made 'Pippa' more upset. The full moon illuminated the angry sky as the moaning wind tried to trip Jack. Branches were blown in his path as nightmare sand crawled on the ground in pursuit. The monster masquerading as Pippa growled as Jack's heart raced faster and faster.

He couldn't escape if he ran on foot. He needed to fly out of here. Jack climbed a tree to gain higher ground. He ignored the jagged branches scratching and scuffing him in his ascent. A trail of shadows followed Pippa as she chased after Jack. The child deprived from nightmares let out a blood curdling scream that sent chills down Jack's spine as he leapt out of the tree and into the air. Staff or no staff he was still light enough to be carried by the winds even if he was in a horrific dream.

As he was carried further and further away, Jack stared back and straight into the face of death as the nightmare began to catch up with him. Pippa's glowing hate filled eyes were now crying deep red tears of blood that stunned Jack with fear.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"

Each word the nightmare screamed at him made Jack's heart skip a beat. A black tendril shot out at Jack as it wrapped around his leg. The boy gasped as he was pulled down but he wasn't met with a cruel and unforgiving monster, instead he landed in water. It was as if he was pulled down into a new nightmare. Bubbles escaped from his mouth as the boy who did not know how to swim began to panic. Jack thrashed around in the endless water as its low temperature stung his skin. He was so alone in the water, there weren't any fish or plant life or anything. He was only surrounded by a vast emptiness of blue water inside a nightmare.

/

The last snowman was slashed a North and Sandy regained their breath. They didn't know how long they had been fighting them, but what they did know was that Bunnymund had been holding his own ground against Pitch while Jamie was with them. "Sandy, go find Tooth. I'll help Bunny." North ordered. Sandy saluted to the guardian of wonder as he flew off taking down a few fearlings in the process.

A strong blizzard raged on around Pitch and Jamie shivered. He was only in his pajamas which consisted of a long sleeved shirt and pants. He wasn't wearing a hat, coat, gloves, or anything to protect him from the cold and the only thing he was wearing on his feet were a pair of wool socks. Jamie sneezed a little bit as his breath was clearly visible in the cold air.

Just as North was about to move towards Jamie and Bunnymund, Pitch froze the ground and a thick sheet of slippery ice was spread out beneath them. The two guardians slipped on the ice while they tried to fight and they slid every time they made an attempt to get back up. Pitch laughed as they tumbled on the frozen ground.

"Are you two training for the ballet?" he asked. Pitch noticed that Jamie was down there as well. He swooped in just as the boy was about to fall on the ice.

"I got you."

"No let me go!"

Jamie squirmed in Jack's arms as Pitch flew high up into the air at a great speed. He knew exactly what to do with this young boy as he climbed miles and miles into the dark night sky. All he needed now was Toothiana and Sandy here to witness it. Back on the ground, Bunnymund and North were trying their best to regain their balance. Once they moved off of the ice, they had no time to fight Pitch as more icy fearlings and snowmen surrounded them. "Sandy and Tooth better come back soon." Bunnymund muttered.

Speaking of Sandy and Tooth, they came flying through the town. Sandy cleared a path for Tooth to safely fly through as they made their way to North and Bunnymund. "Pitch has Jamie!" North yelled up to them. "Go after him while we stay down here."

"Right. Sandy let's go!" Tooth said before turning around and flying in the other direction. Sandy nodded and joined her as they both soared up where Pitch was with Jamie. "Sandy, you distract him while I get Jamie." commanded Tooth as she flew around another fearling. Even though these fearlings were too hard and solid for her to break, Toothiana still had a job to do to protect even if her attacks were ineffective.

As Sandy drew closer, Pitch summoned more fearlings. This time, they were much larger and faster as they dashed through the air. A flurry of snow obscured Sandy's vision as he did his best to protect himself from the frosty nightmares swirling around him. The flurry was also affecting Tooth as well. Her wings were starting to beat slower as frost began to grow on the tips of them.

"Jack I know you're in there you can stop this!" she yelled out. Pitch was right above her with Jamie in one arm and his frozen nightmare staff in the other.

"Jack you have to fight it!"

"Listen up you annoying pixie, he's not coming back. The winter spirit you know and love is gone forever."

Jamie struggled in Pitch's grip as frost began to collect on his clothes. Sending a wave of nightmare sand at Tooth, Pitch watched as she swerved to her right and collided with an icy fearling. More frost spread to her wings as they began to freeze over. Ice covered Tooth's wings within seconds and she began to fall out of the air.

"Sandy!"

The sandman saw Tooth's body whiz past him in a blur of ice and colorful feathers as she fell. Extending his whips, Sandy wrapped them around Tooth's torso and pulled her back up like a yo-yo. As she was pulled onto Sandy's cloud of dream sand, Tooth thanked her savior.

"Thanks Sandy. I owe you one." she sighed. The wings on her back were all frozen together in a sheet of ice and Tooth couldn't even raise or flutter them so she was now a flightless fairy. Tooth's thoughts about her encased wings were interrupted as a tainted ice was thrown at her and Sandy.

"I really though you guardians were supposed to be a challenge. This is all way too easy." taunted Pitch. Meanwhile, Jamie was sill captive and being so high up made breathing the cold thin air hard for him.

"Jack please!" he begged as he tired to break free once again. Pitch's golden yellow eyes glanced down at the believer.

"Do you want to be let down? To be free from my grip?"

"Yes! And I want Jack to come back too!"

"Well I don't know why you can't cram into your thick little head that Jack is gone, but I can happily oblige to your request of being free."

"What? No!"

Jamie screamed as Pitch threw him down. He was in a free fall as he plummeted down at high speed. Sandy saw the falling child and was about to send some dream sand over to him when multiple ravens made from black ice and nightmare sand surrounded him and Tooth. The two guardians had to dodge every raven that charged at them keeping them occupied while Jamie fell to his doom.

/

Jack was losing his breath as water began to enter his body and pierced his soul. Everything inside him was burning as the chilling liquid rushed around inside him. A sharp pain was tugging at Jack's head as his body started going numb. His eyes were squeezed shut and the never ending image of bubbles rising past him underwater was replaced by a blank white setting.

Then an image began to flash in Jack's mind like a broken television. It was blurry as it flashed in and out of vision until it was made clear. It was a view of Jamie falling through the air as snow raged on around him.

"Jack! Jack help!"

His body wasn't slowing down but Jack knew that when Jamie landed it would not be pretty. "J-Jamie?" he whispered as the cloudiness in his head began to fade.

Tooth swatted as a raven made of dark ice started to peck at her. When she glanced up she saw Jack's golden eyes flash back to its normal icy blue.

"Sandy look!"

Sandy turned his head to Jack as he held back a raven from pecking his eyes out.

"Jamie!" Jack yelled as he pursued his falling believer. That was his voice, that was Jack's real voice! Jack's body was carried by the winds and became a blue blur as he spiraled downwards toward his first believer. White specs were growing at the tips of his hair as Jack grew closer and closer. He didn't even notice that he didn't have his staff with him.

Jamie looked up and saw Jack, the Jack that he knew and not the one who was combined with Pitch.

"Jack!"

His fear of landing was quickly replaced by hope as he felt Jack's cold fingertips brush against his shirt. Jack had his body in an arrow shape as he was finally met with Jamie. His arms wrapped around the small boy and they started falling together.

"Jack I knew you'd come!"

"We're not out of the clearing yet kiddo."

Jack shut his blue eyes and focused. He called upon the winds to slow their descent so that they would actually survive this fall but they weren't slowing down.

The ravens attacking Sandy and Tooth melted away and he nightmare sand disappeared as well as the ice gluing Tooth's wings together. She happily flew up into the air.

"Sandy we have to go after them! Come on!"

Sandy followed Tooth as she flew downwards toward the falling boys. They could land on the hard ground any second but the tooth fairy was part hummingbird which meant she had a great agility. It only took her seconds to reach Jack and Jamie and her hands gripped the back of Jack's hoodie. Jack sputtered as he suddenly came to a halt while the hoodie he was wearing nearly snapped his neck and chest. It was a good thing Tooth hadn't grabbed his hood, otherwise he would have been in trouble. Jack and Jamie both opened their eyes to see that they were inches off of the ground. Tooth let go and they landed safely with each of them sighing in relief.

Their small victory was short lived as Jack suddenly yelled out in pain as he shut his eyes. The sound of Pitch's voice began to rise out of his throat but Jack started to fight back this time.

"G-Get out of my head!" he shouted as he writhed in agony on the snow covered ground. His eye color was rapidly flashing from blue to gold as one section of his hair was silvery white while black follicles began to increase and decrease at the same time.

Tooth and Jamie could only stare as Jack started his mental battle with the nightmare king.

* * *

**A/N: phew this took way too long to type.**


	41. Chapter 41

**A/N: hehe i really liked writing all that grimdark stuff with pippa oh and theres fanart fro this fic now! (eefyeah) it was created by xathira. wolf (except pretend theres no space because this website doesnt let you post links) and you can see it on their deviantart which is cyanide-unicorn so go check out their picture of Pitch Frost :3  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Forty One**  
**

"Jack!" North shouted as he and Bunnymund came racing towards them. All of the snowmen and fearlings they had been facing suddenly melted away or vanished as if their master ceased their existence. Sandy arrived as well while riding on a glorious golden dolphin made of dream sand. Bunnymund noticed how Jamie was shivering from the freezing cold and who could blame him? The boy was in a pair of pajamas and a snowstorm that had ended a few moments ago.

"C'mon Jamie, I should take ya home."

"What? No! I wanna stay here with Jack."

"You'll freeze out here if ya stay out any longer."

"What if I just grab my snow gear and come back?"

"The sun is coming up mate. You're parents will be wonderin where you are."

Jamie knew that the Easter bunny was right but he didn't want to go now. Not while Jack was hunched over on the ground fighting from within his own mind. "Bunny is right Jamie. We will take care of this and then Jack will come visit you." North promised to the young boy who just looked at them not wanting to go despite how much his body protested. He was cold and tired from everything that went on in the night and from almost dying by the hands of his best friend but by the mind of the boogeyman. Just as he was about to protest more, Sandy puffed a bit of dream sand in the boy's face and he fell asleep in seconds. Bunnymund picked up Jamie in one arm and turned to everyone else.

"Be back in a flash."

And with that, he dived down a rabbit hole and a flower popped out of the ground where it closed. Meanwhile, Jack had started to scream again. Maybe they shouldn't have sent Jamie home since he might have helped somehow. After all, he did allow Jack to regain control for a moment. But still, the guardians didn't want Jamie to see Jack in this much pain and they didn't want him to be put in any more danger after Pitch threw him down from the sky.

/

Jack was back underwater again, only he wasn't alone this time. Pitch was there too but he wasn't affected by the water one bit. He wasn't slowed down, suffocating, drowning, or anything. However that was the opposite with Jack. His lungs burned for air as his eyes were stinging from the chilly water numbing his body.

Pitch created a shark made from black sand and unleashed it at Jack. It was at least seven feet long with angry pupil less eyes that glared with a red sclera at its target. The boy tried to at least swim out of its path but he was too slow and the shark rammed into him. A few bubbles escaped from Jack's mouth as he accidentally sucked in more water. Pitch only laughed at him.

"You are so stupid to think that you can defeat me. Are you forgetting that I am the king of nightmares? This is a walk in the park for me." he said. The water had no affect on his voice and it looked as if Pith could actually be breathing under the water created by the nightmare. Jack tried to create a witty combat but he was rammed in the back as the shark swam back around.

Its razor sharp teeth sank into Jack's leg as he cried out. Blood started to mix in the water while Pitch watched Jack lose his fight with the nightmare shark. He was tired and cold and his leg felt as if it was stabbed a thousand times and then stuck in a gallon of lemon juice while sand paper scrubbed over it but Jack was too stubborn to give up so easily. He could just give up right now but no, he would not let the guardians down. He wouldn't let Jamie down, he wouldn't let the Man in the Moon down, and he would not let himself down. The shark swam around and rammed its tail at Jack's chest making the teen gasp and choke. His vision was starting to fade and he felt like he was about to pass out but there was one thing Jack sill had to do.

Jack had to defeat Pitch here and now. After having a glimpse of what Pitch had been doing with his body, Jack could not allow the boogeyman to control his powers any longer.

Pitch was about to leave the nightmare and return to being in the real world when a golden dolphin suddenly shot past him. "No!" he shouted out in protest as he turned around. The dolphin made from dream sand split apart into two separate dolphins and swam to Jack's aid. They fought back the shark until it was converted into golden sand and contorted into a manta ray that glided in the water. The wound in Jack's leg suddenly closed up and he couldn't help but laugh at seeing a shark become a manta ray in front of his eyes.

Jack wasn't even thinking about breathing or swimming anymore. He was too distracted by the dream sand.

/

"Nice work Sandy." Tooth said. Jack's body was now calm and the shrieking coming from Jack had ceased but his hair still had traces of black and his skin was still a light grey tone. Bunnymund had returned a few seconds ago and now they were all gathered on the edge of town surrounding Jack's body which was just touched by Sandy's dream sand moments ago. North held Jack's regular wooden staff in his large hands as he watched over the still body laying in the snow before him. Beads of sweat froze on Jack's forehead but what was happening inside his head?

/

No, this couldn't be happening. Pitch had worked too hard just to fail like this. Jack was actually _playing_ and_ laughing_ in his dream with these stupid dolphins made from dream sand when he should be in agonizing pain and begging for the nightmare king's mercy. Pitch would not give up so easily, so what if Jack had a few mindless animals made from dream sand? Pitch could always create more enemies out of nightmare sand and he was in total control of the dream anyways. Summoning more creatures from the darkness, a sea serpent with long sharp teeth as tall as Jack formed in the water.

"You think you're so confident now don't you? Well just because you have some dream sand with you doesn't mean you can beat me." Pitch sneered. The sea serpent shot out at Jack and wrapped its long body around his torso constricting him like a python. Jack looked at its jagged and long teeth while a few bubbles escaped from his mouth. To be honest he was very intimidated by the sea serpent but it was nothing he couldn't handle. He had creations made from the sandman on his side now to help aid in his battle.

A dolphin made of dream sand bopped the sea serpent with its tail and gained its attention. In a flash the dolphin became the shape of a squid and it shot ink in the serpent's face. Jack let out a chuckle at seeing this. When the serpent hissed it was only met with another blast of golden ink. The ink then started to spread throughout the serpent's body as it began to thrash with Jack still in its clutches. Its grip on Jack had began to loosen and within seconds the skinny boy was able to slip out while the sea serpent was transformed into a small whale that swam under Jack's legs happily while leaving a golden trail behind.

"Got anything else Pitch?" Jack asked full of courage with a small smile on his face. The boogeyman scowled before a large scythe formed in his hand. He had started to get a little bored anyways, play time was over. Pitch lunged out at Jack swinging the scythe and he missed Jack's throat by inches. Suddenly becoming fantastic at swimming, the winter spirit swam under Pitch while his staff was crafted out of dream sand.

He was going to have some fun.

Pitch lashed out again and this time Jack grabbed onto the handle of the scythe. "Get off you stupid idiot!" Pitch yelled at him. Jack just stuck out his tongue while Pitch tried to shake him off. The crook of Jack's staff hooked around the scythe allowing Jack to take a swing at Pitch. He swung around and was able to kick Pitch in the shoulder but the boogeyman shook it of before a flash of nightmare sand blasted Jack backwards.

Jack quickly regained himself just in time to send a small beam if ice at Pitch and the ice began to grow in the water until it made contact with Pitch's body and stuck on his robes.

"Now Pitch, I said this once, and I'll say it again." Jack said with a smirk as he watched the nightmare king attempt to break the ice on his clothes. The ice had started to spread to Pitch's hands as it climbed farther onto his body.

"Get,"

Another blast of ice was shot out of Jack's staff and hit Pitch.

"out,"

Pitch tried to change the nightmare's setting but the creatures made from dream sand held him down.

"of,"

Another bolt of ice came from Jack and speeded up the growing process of the ice.

"my,"

Pitch was almost completely frozen in ice.

"head!"

Jack launched his final blast of ice at Pitch as the nightmare king's scream of protest went unheard. Frozen in ice, was Pitch Black, and it was all because of Jack Frost. Jack decided to take a look at his handiwork while smiling over his triumph. It felt good to have control over his dreams and mind again, but Jack wasn't done yet. He still had to figure out what to do with Pitch.

"He's still inside of me right? And aren't we in a dream right now?" he asked one of the golden dolphins swimming around him. The dolphin nodded and a smile formed on Jack's face.

"Alright, I know just what to do with him."

Jack got on the dolphin and hooked his staff around Pitch's frozen body.

"Okay, let's go!"

The dolphin squeaked before diving down deeper into the water while its rider dragged Pitch along. The deeper they swam together, the darker the water became. It felt as if they were swimming through a tunnel made from water as they started to approach a light up ahead. When they finally reached the light they got close to the surface of the water where you could see trees and snow up above.

Jack and the dolphin popped out of the water and landed on ice that layered a lake in the middle of a snow covered forest. Hauling out Pitch, Jack waved goodbye to the dolphin made of dream sand before it flopped back into the lake. It was night time in the forest, and there was a full moon shining above Jack's head in a black sky filled with stars that twinkled like glitter.

Pulling Pitch through the forest, Jack soon came to a clearing where a wooden bed frame stood alone above a hole in the ground. The boy gently flew down the hole with his cargo until he finally reached the lair of the boogeyman. A few fearlings were surrounding Jack but they didn't dare to go near him. This was_ his_ dream after all and it was not controlled by Pitch anymore. Jack dragged Pitch's frozen body to the center of the underground sanctuary and froze him in place to the ground.

"This place needed some decorations." he said as he looked back on the frozen statue of Pitch. It looked good in the dark den. After all, darkness did go together with the cold, so why not a gothic chamber and a statue made from ice and the king of nightmares? It didn't matter where Jack left Pitch's frozen body, this was his mind and his body so he could keep Pitch frozen all he wanted while he was hidden away. Bidding ado to the harmless fearlings around him Jack took off once again and flew out of the hole. As an extra precaution, Jack pointed his staff down the hole and filled i with ice until he was sure Pitch's den was frozen solid. Then he flew back to the lake where he was reunited with his dolphin.

/

The guardians had suddenly started to get excited. Jack's hair was returning to its silvery white color while all of the grey in his skin was being flushed out until it was back to its pale tone. "Guys I think he's coming back to us!" Tooth chirped full of glee. Jack's body was no longer cringing in pain or screaming, he was at ease and smiling in his sleep while an image of him riding a dolphin floated above his head.  
"So will he be okay?" North asked to Sandy. The sandman sprinkled some more dream sand over Jack's head while nodding and they all let out a much needed sigh if relief.

"So I guess the littler bugger defeated Pitch huh." Bunnymund said. Sandy nodded once again while they all stood over the sleeping winter spirit lying down in the snow. For the first time in months, Jackson Overland Frost could actually have a good night's sleep. Well, technically it was morning at the moment but the point is that the stress of almost dying at any minute was lifted off of Jack's shoulders. The dark rings around his eyes were still there, but they would fade away within a few days as long as nobody woke Jack up for a while. The boy needed his sleep.

"What happens now? What happened to Pitch?" Tooth asked. They hadn't seen Pitch escape Jack so could it be that he was still inside of him? Dream sand flashed above Sandy's head until it was molded into a figure of Pitch being locked away in a chest by Jack and that chest was stashed in another chest that was inside of Jack's dream. "So he's trapped in Jack's dream, but not in his body?" North asked for clarification. Sandy nodded once again.

* * *

**A/N: ok so i have some good news and some bad news. the good news is that 'yay jack stopped pitch and trapped him' and stuff like that but the bad news is that theres not that much left for this fic other than maybe three more chapters and i have no idea when theyll be uploaded since right now im trying to write another rise of the guardians fanfic that will be posted once Sleep is done.**

**so other than that keep your eyes peeled for my next update :3  
**


	42. Chapter 42

**A/N: aaaah i dont know what to say here**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters.**

Chapter Forty Two

"Better get back to the Pole before anything else happens." North said as he picked up Jack's sleeping body. Has Jack always been this light? It felt North was holding a feather. Then again, the wind _was_ able to pick up Jack and the boy did go through a lot of stress during the past few months but North didn't care at the moment. He was just glad it was all over and so was everyone else. The past month had been emotionally and physically exhausting for all of them.

Bunnymund's ears twitched as he heard the faint sound of people waking up from their beds. "We better go now." he said. He didn't really want to deal with a believer running outside and seeing the Easter Bunny, the Tooth fairy, the Sandman, and Santa Clause with his arms positioned as if he was holding something. It was nowhere near a holiday and none of them felt like staying to explain anything. The four guardians took off to the sleigh hidden away in the forest while children and adults ran outside to look at the sudden snowstorm last night.

Now Bunnymund hated the sleigh, and he could have taken his rabbit holes to the Pole if he wanted to, but he had decided to ride with everyone despite his fears. He wasn't letting Jack out of his sights, not now, not after everything that had occurred with Pitch.

When they reached the sleigh a sudden realization had struck them, the sleigh was still damaged from the icy fearlings that attacked them during their arrival. They had forgotten all about the damages. Sandy pondered for a moment until he snapped his fingers. He had an idea.

"What us it Sandy?" North asked still holding Jack who tossed in his sleep. Sandy walked up to the sleigh as golden tendrils began to swirl around it. They were guided to the wing that had been broken off and crafted itself to form a new wing made out of dream sand. The reindeer that had been frozen thawed out while they were in town but that did not prevent Sandy from making them all coats from his sand.

The other three guardians watched in amazement as Sandy finished his work. "Looks like the sleigh got even better." said North with a smile on his face as he nudged Bunnymund playfully. The pooka rolled his eyes before hopping into the new and improved sleigh.

North grabbed the reins and whipped them as they cracked. The reindeer let out a shrill roar as they began running along the ground until they had liftoff. "To Pole!" North commanded into a snow globe before chucking it into the air ahead of them. The sleigh flew through the portal and appeared in a light blue sky with snow falling from clouds all around them.

Jack didn't stir once during the entire sleigh ride. His head was resting in Tooth's lap as she looked down at the sleeping winter child. Her small hand brushed some hair out of his face while they flew through the snowfall. "What happens now? Should we just wait for him to wake up?" she asked. Tooth had a point, should they all avert back to their normal lives until Jack awoke? An hourglass and a calendar popped up above Sandy's head. Jack hadn't had any real sleep without nightmares for nearly three months, he was going to be asleep for a while.

"Jack will sleep at Pole for now." North said. "You're all welcome any time you want to visit him."

Jack rolled onto his side in Tooth's lap as her brightly colored feathers tickled his nose. He let out a tiny sneeze and a puff of snow flew out from under him. Then he just rolled back over.

"I think that'd be alright. What do you think Bunny?"

"Should be fine as long as North doesn't obsess over the snowflake."

All of the guardians couldn't help but smile. Jack had really truly survived this. He may have some scars mentally and psychically but it wasn't anything that the guardians could help with. This little adventure if theirs had all taught them a life lesson. Jack Frost, the lonely winter child, wasn't alone anymore. He had a family, and his family wasn't about to abounding him any time soon. Pitch had actually made their bonds with each other even stronger than before.

The clouds parted revealing Santoff Clausen. Bunnymund couldn't wait to get inside as North started to land the sleigh. The wind had been happy that Jack was back but it expressed its emotions by keeping a freezing cold gust on them as if the North Pole wasn't cold enough.

/

North laid Jack on a couch near an open window. He was still fast asleep even with various elves tinkling around him. North had wanted to prepare a room for Jack knowing the boy couldn't sleep on the couch or in the infirmary every time he was in the workshop. "Come, I know there's an extra space in the workshop where Jack can stay." he said as he motioned the other guardians to follow. They all agreed that Jack having a room at North's workshop would be an improvement so all of them had immediately jumped on that idea.

With his other comrades following him, North led them to the other side of the entire building where it was colder. "Now I haven't actually prepared a room for Jack yet, but we can always decorate one together while he's asleep." he said.

"What so while Frostbite is asleep we're gonna be playing workshop makeover?" Bunny responded. North nodded as they continued on. They walked up the stairs to the second floor and they stopped when they reached a wooden door at the end of the hallway. North swung it open but they all coughed when a cloud of dust rose in the air from the room. The entire room was covered in dust except for a large window in the center. The walls, floor, and ceilings were made of wood while a single lamp hung from the ceiling by a wire. A few cobwebs were in the corners and they provided the only decoration in the barren room besides the dust.

"Crikey North. You really expect Frostbite to sleep in here? He'd be better off in a broom closet."

"Bunny Bunny Bunny, have you learned nothing from me? I am the guardian of wonder! With a little elbow grease this room will be perfect for Jack."

North was clearly excited about their upcoming project while the others just exchanged glances. This had to be the least magical part of the entire workshop and to be honest, it looked really depressing seeing a room like this. Were they really supposed to turn this dusty old quarters into a living space for their youngest member while he slept on a couch downstairs? The guardian of wonder seemed to convince them enough to not choose a different room for Jack saying that 'its better to start from scratch' when in reality this was the only extra space he had that wasn't storing mountains of toys to be delivered later during Christmas. If four guardians were going to follow North's instructions, they were going to need a lot of magic.

/

Jack had been passed out on North's couch for an entire two days now. Sometimes North would check up on him to see if he was having any nightmares or if he was still breathing. North knew that Jack was sleeping, but the way he was so still in his sleep looked as if he was dead and it didn't help that he was already as cold as a corpse. Sandy would visit every night as well to give Jack some good dreams for the night while Tooth and Bunnymund would occasionally pop in too. With all of the chaos that had taken place a few days ago some of the guardians had fallen behind on their work so they had all been so engrossed in making up for it that the only progress they made on Jack's room was cleaning out the dust and cobwebs.

North was currently in his office. He hadn't made a new toy prototype in weeks and children were writing their Christmas letters early this year. Etching off a fragment of ice, North wiped some sweat off his brow and looked back at what he had accomplished today. He had made a small horse figurine that was galloping through the air while a rocket ship soared past it. A manatee was also swimming in the air while two dolls were having a nice tea party below with an army of tiny soldiers protecting them.

He was actually proud of what he had accomplished within that past day and this time, the door was locked so anyone wanting to come in would just _have _to knock. These frosty toys weren't going to be slammed with a door by a yeti this time. Deciding that these toy prototypes that had taken hours to hand craft had had enough play time, North gathered them all and placed them in a box on the floor. This box held some more prototypes he had made weeks ago and they were now ready to be made into actual toys for the kids.

Just as he was about to unlock his door and leave his office, the ground around the his box of prototypes began to sink in until the box fell down a hole and Bunnymund popped out while North let out a cry of frustration. "Whoa uh, sorry about that North." he said apologizing. North pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Bunny, why can't you just come through door like everyone else?"

"I don't have time for doors mate. Anyway you can just make more of those ice things right?"

North sighed. Of course the Easter Bunny wouldn't understand how many hours it would take to carve every little detail into ice and then turn that block of ice into a functional model for a toy directed towards a child.

"Well your box is probably in one of my tunnels. If I see it and I'll bring it back to ya if its not a puddle of water."

"Why did you have to come in my office anyway?"

"Because mate we've all been waitin out there for ya."

"We?"

"Yeah. Tooth, Sandy, and I have been waitin for you to come out of your office for an hour. Didn't you hear Tooth bangin on your door?"

Come to think of it, there may have been this annoying banging sound coming from North's office door while the guardian of wonder was too focused in his work to even notice his surroundings. There was suddenly a tapping at North's door and judging by the fast pace of it, they could all tell it was Tooth. "Bunny did you get North yet?" she asked from behind the locked door.

North walked over to his door and unlocked it so see the Tooth Fairy fluttering outside the door. "Finally! We've been here for almost an hour North! I brought some of my fairies with me so they can help with Jack's room." she said as five of her mini fairies (including Baby Tooth) were buzzing around her like bees.

"Sorry Tooth I was working on some toys and they would have been made into real toys if _somebody _had been more careful where his tunnels were placed." North responded while turning his head to Bunnymund who just shrugged. It wasn't like Bunny had actually meant to make a box full of North's ice toys fall into one of his many tunnels right?

The three guardians and Tooth's mini fairies made their way downstairs where Sandy was playing with one of Jack's dreams again. Seeing his friends come down, the Sandman waved to them while Baby Tooth perched herself on Jack's chest as he slept.

"Alright, so now that we're all gathered we can start on Jack's room. I have some wood in the back that we can use to make some furniture and I have paints in the closet." North said. The other guardians nodded and separated into two teams. North and Sandy were to craft some furniture to put in Jack's room while Bunnymund would start painting the walls and Tooth and her fairies would make some decorations.

With the help of some of the yetis and the five mini fairies as well as a load of magic, the guardians had gotten a lot complete in one day. A proper bed with a wooden frame was crafted as well as a dresser and a lamp made from ice. Tooth and her fairies had made some snowflakes out of paper to hang in Jack's room but the greatest accomplishment was what Bunnymund had done to the walls. He painted them to look just like a snow covered forest and it was clearly a masterpiece. All they had to do now was move everything in and clean up.

/

"Easy mate. Watch the door frame. North I said watch the door frame!"

"Stop going to fast!"

"Stop going so slow!"

"Why do rabbits always have to rush everything they do?"

North and Bunnymund had begun to bicker again while moving Jack's bed into his room. Tooth was cleaning the single window in the room when she heard them arguing again.

"I told you this wouldn't fit through the door."

"I built it, I can make it fit."

"By doing what? Breaking it in half?"

The Tooth Fairy sighed and flew over to mediate between them.

"Guys guys calm down! We're doing this for a reason remember?"

"Yeah well Frostbite better be thankful for all the effort we're putting into this."

North and Bunny finally made it through the narrow door frame to Jack's almost completed bedroom. After being put together, the bed was pushed to the far wall while the dresser they had moved in was against the wall adjacent to it. Enchanted broomsticks had been tidying up while Tooth returned to cleaning the window. They had started remodeling Jack's soon to be new room early in the morning and it was already a half past one. Time surely did fly.

A few leftover cans of paint were gathered in the corner of the room along with an assortment of brushes varying in size. Tooth's helpers were rearranging some handmade snow globes and Sandy had gone back downstairs to monitor Jack's dreams again.

The Sandman was watching over Jack again and so was Baby Tooth. She had been so worried about her friend and she wasn't about to let anything happen to him. It was as if the guardian of fun had a tiny little guardian of his own. Sandy saw that there was nothing wrong with Jack's dreams and they were back to normal. A tiny version of Jack made from dream sand was currently hovering above a beach while freezing waves and having fun as two dolphins were leaping out of the water to greet him. One wave was much larger than the others and when Jack froze it his ice seemed to transform it into a sort of incline. Seeing this as an opportunity, one of the dolphins flopped onto the frozen wave and slid down squeaking in glee.

There weren't that many that knew why Jack liked dolphins so much, but Sandy had an idea about them. When Jack turned one hundred and fifty, he started to travel the world more than he should have. He would spend hours just flying across the globe whether it was day or night. When he would fly over certain parts of the oceans, dolphins would leap out of the water as if they had wanted to play. Jack would often fly over the oceans and have fun freezing the waves but he also had fun with the dolphins too. Of course, he never went in the water to swim with them but it was fun seeing them randomly pop out of the water. It helped Jack pass some time when he was alone.

Then the amount of dolphins dwindled and Jack barely saw them anymore but he did in his dreams. Jack's mind had created the dolphins out of the dream sand but it wasn't just dolphins. Sandy remembered how interesting Jack's dreams were even if they could be a little sad sometimes. There were times when the boy would dream of having friends or meeting children that actually acknowledged him and those dreams had haunted him until he had become a guardian because those dreams had become a reality. Jack had other dreams though. Sometimes they would take place in the future, past, present, or in a different setting. There were even times were Jack's dreams were just his human memories but he didn't know that until he had actually seen what he was before Jack Frost.

Baby Tooth sat on Jack's head and nuzzled in his silver white hair. He tossed in his sleep but the dream sand was still swirling above his head. Tooth fluttered down the staircase and spoke to the sandman.

"Hey Sandy the room is almost done! We have the bed sheets and everything so North said we can go ahead and move Jack but be very gentle and quiet."

Sandy nodded and a cloud of dream sand formed under Jack's sleeping body until it lifted him off the couch. Being careful to not bang Jack against the wall, the guardian of dreams swiftly guided the cloud up the stairs and down the hall until they reached the room. North and Bunny were still in there putting on some finishing touches and took no notice to the cloud of golden sand carry Jack in. Tooth watched as Sandy lowered Jack onto his new bed and she pulled the thin white sheets over him. Frost immeidatly started to gather on the fabric but the winter spirit didn't seem to notice as he clung to them in his slumber.

Meanwhile, North was using his wondrous eyes to help Bunnymund straighten a picture on the wall.

"A little bit more to the left. No I said to the left that's the right."

"You said move it to the left so I did."

"Well move it to my left."

"I did move it to your left!"

"You know what Bunny? Just take it down."

Bunnymund rolled his eyes and groaned while following North's orders. He couldn't believe that he had just wasted fifteen minutes of his immortal life trying to hang a stupid painting on a wall that was just one big painting of a snowy forest. You might as well eat snow cones in Antarctica.

North actually didn't want the painting to be hung in the first place. He was just trying to get back at Bunny for losing all of those ice toys he had made. The guardian of wonder suddenly noticed that Sandy had entered and he turned to him. "Ah! Sandy good you're here! Tell me, what do you think of the room right now?" he asked in a jolly mood as he motioned to everything.

Sandy beamed at Jack's new bedroom. It was amazing accounting that they only spent about a day working on it. There had been a few setbacks though whenever some elves would get in the way but other than it was fantastic. Sandy couldn't wait for Jack to wake up and see his surroundings.

All they had to do is clean up whatever mess was left and then they could leave.

"Bunny hurry up and get those paint cans out of here." North said from across the room.

"Hold ya horses North Frostbite ain't wakin up any time soon."

"Well at least put the lids on the cans."

"I can't because your bloody elves ran off with them somewhere."

All of the cans of paint were currently open and without a lid. Sandy had sworn that he had seen a couple of elves throwing them back and forth downstairs. Maybe he should go get them.

"Hey Bunny I think North is right on this one." Tooth said. If Jack was still a child, who knows what he could do with a couple of cans of paint accounting how mischievous and rebellious he was.

"Alright fine. I'll do it now."

"I'll help you."

Tooth picked up a can of green paint and was now hovering in the air while holding it. Bunnymund had a can in each of his arms and was about to leave when he heard the sounds of bedsheets rustling. "I think he's startin to wake up." said the pooka. North noticed this as well and started to rush the guardians out. "Bunny's right move move!" he hastily commanded. The guardian of wonder knew that Jack needed some space right now when he'd wake up and they wouldn't be breathing down the boy's neck once he did. Besides, if Jack woke up to find all of the guardians with him he'd assume that they'd all been worrying about him and had stayed with him while neglecting their duties. "Hurry up!" he said once more and this time he began to shoo everyone out of the room with his hands in the air.

What North didn't know is that the can of open green paint Tooth was holding was so close to his hands. North accidentally knocked the can out of Tooth's grip and it went flying through the air until it hit Bunnymund in the face as he staggered backwards. Green paint had stained his fur and Tooth covered her mouth as she gasped as the half green Easter Bunny got back up.

"Oi! You did that on purpose!" he snapped at North harshly.

"Now Bunny, I assure you it was just an a-"

"This is for this morning isn't it? Its because of those toys that fell down my tunnel right?"

Bunnymund was still dripping in green paint as he got in North's face but Tooth got between the two spirits and pushed them apart.

"Now Bunny, I'm sure North didn't mean to all that paint on you right North?"

North agreed as Bunny crossed his arms still steaming.

"I admit I was at fault here Bunny and I apologize."

"Oh well your apology makes it a whole lot better."

In reality North had found this situation to be hilarious and he was using every ounce of self control he had to not bust out laughing at the giant green rabbit yelling at him. Bunnymund started to argue with North again while Tooth was failing to break them up. Some elves were on the ground slipping and sliding in the green paint on the floor and nobody seemed to notice the sandman jumping up and down with an exclamation point above his head.

/

Jack tried to drown them out, but it was very difficult not to. He was half asleep when he had something metal clang onto the ground followed by yelling that surely belonged to the Australian Easter Bunny. The boy was too dazed to make out what they were saying, but all he knew was that he wished they would shut up so that he could go back to sleep.

Sandy noticed that Jack had pulled the covers over his head and the sandman only tired to notify the others to be quiet but he was going unnoticed. Again. Sandy swore to Man in the Moon he was getting way to old for this. Jack had suddenly started to rub his eyes while letting out a soft yawn. He opened them before blinking back the bright lights shining through some window in front of him. Then he noticed that he was in a bed, a real bed in what looked like some random room in North's Workshop. How long had he been out?

Jack suddenly noticed that Sandy was at the foot of his bed with various exclamation points and flashing arrows above his head. He was too focused on Sandy to even notice what kind of room he was in.

"Sandy?"

His voice was hoarse but the sandman had heard it and flung himself at Jack in a warm hug. The boy's silver blue eyes widened for a second before becoming calmer and he patted Sandy on the back as he let go.

"Sandy what's going on?"

He was confused that about why it was so loud until he turned his head and saw a half green Bunnymund shouting at North while Tooth was buzzing around them.

* * *

**A/N: ok so this chapter is a little over 4,000 words but the last chapter will be uploaded later and i know that that will be _way_ longer**


	43. Chapter 43

**A/N:alright and now for the last installment of Sleep and at the end theres a pretty long authors note**

**Disclaimer:I do not own Rise of the Guardians or any of its characters**

Chapter Forty Three

Bunnymund and North became silent when there was suddenly and eruption of laughter. Jack was sitting up in his bed cracking up at the sight of Bunny as his hands were clutching his sides. He was laughing so hard he could barely breath and there were even tears freezing at the corners of his eyes. "Oh my gosh Kangaroo since when have you been green?" he asked between giggles. If Bunnymund was a human, he would have been red with embarrassment. Instead, he was tinted green because of a certain spirit who probably did this on purpose. Jack's laughter had spread to the others in the room and the next thing you knew, North was howling with laughter as well while Tooth was giggling to herself. Sandy was on Jack's bed silently chuckling while Jack was hunched over.

"Alright knock it off its not that funny!" Bunny protested but Jack had another thing in mind.

"Oh no, no this is priceless. We might as well hang candy canes and tinsel on you ears and call you the Christmas Kangaroo!"

The room only burst with more laughter while Bunny scowled. Deep down, he was actually pretty glad that Jack was back to his usual self but having everyone laugh at him was still irritating.

/

"So Jack, what do you think?" North asked to the newly awoken boy. Everyone's laughter had died down a few minutes ago and Jack was gazing around the room at the moment while North watched him anxious for a response. The room was so magnificent, Jack literally had nothing to say. The four wooden walls were painted to look like a mural of his forest back in Burgess and they were so real it looked as if you could just walk right in it and climb the trees. Each branch was decorated in and assortment of snow and frost while icicles dangled from their tips. Each detail into the ice and snow was so flawless it was as if Jack had done it himself.

The bed that Jack had been sleeping in was carved out of some type of wood and it had thin white bedsheets and two white pillows. A night stand was resting next to the bed with a lamp made out of ice and when it was turned on it illuminated the room in a shining white light. In the middle wall of the room was a large window with icy blue translucent curtains and there was even a latch on the window so that it could open like doors.

On the far left of the room was a wooden dresser and the top was garnished with snow globes that had a moving figure in each of them. Jack took a closer look at one and saw two people ice skating inside the globe while the kids from Burgess were having a snowball fight in the other. There was even a snow globe where it had three dolphins swimming around while wearing Christmas sweaters and fuzzy red hats. Covering a majority of the cold wooden floor was a soft white rug that was as soft as freshly fallen snow minus the cold surface.

Did he really deserve something amazing as this? North just stared at Jack as he walked around studying every last detail with curiosity but he still had that look of amazement that every child had when they would wake up on Christmas day. He could tell that Jack obviously appreciated the gesture. The winter spirit was even making sure not to frost over the carpet too much when he stepped on it. It wasn't until Jack turned to North he replied.

"Listen North, this is all wonderful and all, but why? What's the occasion?"

"Why? This is your room Jack!"

"What?"

"This is where you'll be staying whenever you visit pole!"

Jack just stood there speechless with his staff gripped in his hand. Sure he was at the North Pole most of the time now that he was actually welcomed, but his home was back at the frozen lake in Burgess. Well, it was his home until spring and summer would make it too hot for him there. When it would get too hot Jack would just go to the opposite end of the globe where he could make all the snow he want and not having to worry about melting. Besides, Jack like wide open spaces to fly around rather than being cooped up inside. But that didn't mean that he didn't like the room, no, it was the best thing he'd ever gotten. Then again, this was the first time he's ever received anything from anyone. Jackson Overland Frost held the record on the naughty list, he wasn't supposed to get anything from Santa Clause not to mention the others. But North had said that he had wiped the slate clean when Jack had popped his pale little head out of that sack.

The look on North's face though was what impacted Jack the most. North looked like a five year old on Christmas Eve. How could he possibly decline to that? Being the embodiment of winter, Jack could act cold to others and he didn't have the most manners, but he couldn't crush the spirits of his family.

"I, I love it." he said with a smile.

/

Bunnymund was somewhere in the workshop trying to wash off the green paint while Jack was just as lively as he was before. There were no longer black bags under his eyes and he wasn't feeling tired at all. Instead, Jack had been flying through the hallways with the other three guardians pursuing him.

"Hey North, the Kangaroo is in one of the bathrooms upstairs right?"

"Yes he's washing the paint out of his fur."

"And how old is this place?"

"I don't know maybe a couple centuries. Why?"

Jack grinned revealing his perfectly white teeth and Tooth had known Jack long enough to know that he was up to something.

"Jack, what are you planning?"

"Nothing why?"

"I know that smile Jack, you're planning something aren't you?"

"Who me?"

"Yes you!"

"Nah. I was just thinking about freezing some more elves later."

Before anyone could stop him, Jack flew off down the hall ignoring the shouts coming from the others behind him. He weaved in and out of surprised yetis as he made his way through hall after hall until he reached the bathrooms. Jack could hear the water running through the pipes and there was a certain bathroom where it was closed but it was warm as if there was something inside radiating off heat. Bunny must be taking a warm and pleasant shower and Jack had two options. He could either freeze all of the water pipes, or sneak in the bathroom and flush the toilet.

Deciding to go with his second option, Jack slowly placed his hand on the door and stuck his head in. A warm mist had brushed over him and he was right about Bunny taking a hot shower. He must be using up half of the hot water in the workshop. Well, if Bunnymund liked taking hot showers at the North Pole, then he was going to love this.

Jack had only been awake for ten minutes and he was already planning a prank on the Easter Bunny. Tip toeing into the bathroom, Jack quietly made his way over to the toilet that was placed next to the shower Bunnymund was in. The boy moved his hand over to the handle while trying his best not to laugh. Bunny didn't even notice that anyone else was with him. He was behind a red shower curtain scrubbing at his fur.

Jack's fingers were on the toilet flusher now. Very slowly, he pushed it down.

/

"Where could he have gone?" Tooth asked. She was in the hallways with North and Sandy while they were all trying to determine where Jack had flown off to now. "I don't know where Jack is, but I have a gut feeling he's-" North was cut off mid sentence when Jack suddenly whooshed past them laughing. A soaking wet Bunnymund trailed after the boy but North grabbed one of the pooka's tall ears.

"Bunny what is it?"

"Oh I'll tell ya what it is, Frost is _really_ in for it now."

Jack Frost had just scalded the Easter Bunny with boiling hot water and the winter spirit wasn't going to be let off that easily.

"Oh hey Kangaroo you look so mad. You're practically _steaming._" Jack said as he floated in the air high above the guardians.

"Now listen up Frost, I-"

"Oh I can't wait to here it. You'll have to tell me once you've finally _cooled_ down."

Bunnymund growled at Jack but he only stuck out his tongue before flying off again and the guardian of hope began his chase once again. He honestly couldn't believe this kid. There he was, washing green paint out of his fur and the next thing he knew there was a flushing noise and blistering hot water rained down on him and he swore out loudly. Then he had heard the laughter of a child in the room and when he looked he saw it was none other than Jack Frost standing by the toilet.

Still soaking wet, Bunnymund was on all fours as he raced through North's workshop. Jack was high up in the air leaving a trail of frost behind him on purpose just to taunt the pooka. The other three guardians had followed them as well and were having trouble just trying to keep up. Jack had been flying under and over toys and yetis while avoiding the occasional elf and he was almost out the door when Bunnymund had suddenly popped out of the ground in front of him. The boy didn't even have time to stop or to react and he collided into the warm wet rabbit as they tumbled through the open door and out into the snow.

Jack hastily got back up before Bunnymund could grab him and was now flying five feet above the pooka's head. Cold and frustrated, Bunnymund got back up and started shouting at Jack.

"Frost you better get your bloody carcass back here!"

"Pfft. Yeah right. I've been out of the field for a while and you know, I have places to go and winter to bring."

"Just wait til I get my paws on you Frostbite!"

The other three guardians arrived at the door just in time to see Jack wave goodbye.

"Don't worry North, I'll be back before midnight." he called down as the wind carried him farther and farther away. North shouted something back but Jack was too far away to make out what it was but if it was important, North would probably find another way to tell him.

It felt so good to be back. Jack had honestly missed flying across the globe without a care in the world. He was re-energized and nobody was trying to kill him as he flew freely through the air. With a wave of his staff, snow began to fall as Jack spun in the sky. The sun was setting so he didn't have to worry about getting too high as the wind carried him across the planet. Jack had somewhere to be at the moment, and that place happened to be a small town called Burgess.

The wind carried its rider to Burgess and he touched down on a sidewalk. There was still some leftover snow from when Pitch had created that snowstorm and snow plows had pushed it all to the side. Off in the distance, Jack spotted a group of teenagers talking loudly by a metal pole.

"Common Nathan do it I dare you!"

"But what if it just freezes there and doesn't come off?"

"Dude that never happens. Now come on do it!"

The other teens around Nathan were grinning while the by slowly bent down and placed the tip of his tongue against the cold metal. Jack saw this as a opportunity and flew by Nathan and froze the boy's tongue to the pole in the process. Nathan had started to squirm trying to remove his frozen tongue while Jack just snickered at him. "You're not that bright are you?" he asked despite the fact that they couldn't hear him.

"Aw man dude it totally happened!"

"Nathans tongue froze to the pole!"

Jack decided to move on to cause some more mischief as he spotted his next target, a woman walking on the sidewalk with a scarf wrapped tightly around her head. With a tap of his staff, ice began to spread over the sidewalk and onto the woman's path as she slipped on it and fell back. There happened to be a man passing by and he suddenly caught the woman in his arms. "Hey nice catch." Jack said as he watched woman stare into her savior's eyes and blushed under her scarf.

"O-Oh. Thank you."

"Your welcome miss."

Jack rolled his eyes and flew back into the air causing a gush of cold air to rush past the couple. He balanced on the edge of a tall skyscraper as he watched the white puffy clouds pass by. Everything was so at ease now, and everyone was so peaceful and unaware of the battle that had gone on days ago. Jack decided it was too quiet and flew to the snow covered park where he saw five kids playing.

"Yeah! Best snow day ever!"

"No school tomorrow either!"

"That'd be the third day schools are closed due to snow!"

They were obviously happy that there had been a snow storm a few days ago. The schools were closed giving them free time to have fun outside. Jack didn't know who these kids were, but that didn't stop him from starting a snowball fight with them. He picked up a clump of snow and balled it up in his bare hands and he threw it at the back of a girl's head.

"Hey! What was that for?"

Everyone denied every accusation the girl made towards them before she threw a snowball back and hit a boy in the face covering his glasses.

"Sorry Ian! I meant to hit Amy." the girl said as she apologized. Amy giggled at her friend's horrible aim until a snowball flew out of nowhere and hit her back. Within seconds a battle ensued as the kids were chucking snowballs at each other in a five way free for all. They weren't even noticing Jack but he didn't care, all that mattered was that he was having fun with them. Jack waved his staff and dozens of snowballs formed on the ground that the kids scooped up to toss at each other. Glancing over to a clock tower, Jack saw that he still had time to through one last snowball with these kids that he'd just met today.

Forming a perfect snowball in his hand, Jack focused on a tall brunette and threw the ball of white snow as hard as he could. It flew through the air like a rocket but its target moved out of the way before it could hit and it smashed straight through a car window. Everyone froze and stood in silence as the sound of a car alarm rang through the area. Jack must have accidentally put some ice in that snowball, that would happen sometimes.

"My car!"

The children started to flee the scene and Jack has never been so glad to be invisible. This was terrible. Jack was the one who broke the car window and unless the owner of the car happened to believe in him, the kids were going to be blamed.

"Okay don't worry I'll fix this,"

Jack hustled over to the car as he started to hear hurried footsteps coming closer. He quickly began to place a sheet of clear ice on what was left of the car window until it was able to be passed off as if nothing had happened. Now the ice on the car would melt away eventually, but by that time the kids would be long gone so no one would know who actually broke the window in the first place.

The owner of the car, who happened to look as if he was in his mid fifties, ran to his car in a huff and inspected the window. It look brand new but there was broken glass inside his car. "Don't worry old timer. That ice should last a few days." Jack said before flying off once again.

This time Jack perched himself on some telephone wires and watched the sun set. It lit up the sky in a bright array of colors as the winter spirit pondered in his thoughts. The past few months had been hectic and painful for him, but despite that he found out he was actually welcomed into the guardians and that they truly cared about him. He also made quite a few discoveries about himself. Jack sighed as he looked off in a certain direction. There was still a certain someone he needed to see.

/

Jamie sat on his bed and groaned. His parents had grounded him when they saw all the ice in his room and when they saw the snow on his pajamas. That and they saw the broken window in his room that Sandy threw Pitch out of. He was so bored staying in his room all day. He couldn't go outside in the snow with his friends and Sophie was napping so he couldn't do anything with her. But Jamie was still hopeful. The last time he saw Jack was maybe three days ago when he was with all of the guardians. His skin was grey and his hair was black and he had Pitch inside of him but he should be alright now shouldn't he?

A light snow was falling outside so that must have meant that Jack was back right? Jamie huffed and blew some stray hair out of his face while sitting on his bed. Sulking and staring at the ground again, Jamie really hoped that Jack was okay. He was too busy being lost in thought to notice how cold his room had become. Jamie hadn't noticed Jack's presence until a dolphin made of ice swam past him.

"Jack!"

Jamie ran to his broken window and pulled the sheet back covering it. They really had to fix his window soon, Jamie couldn't look out at the snow through a sheet. Just as he though, Jack Frost was hovering outside his window smiling. Jack looked different too. His hair was back to its normal silvery white color and his eyes had gone from a golden yellow to an icy blue. He flew up and entered through the broken window and greeted his first believer.

"Hey kiddo hows it going?"

"Hows it going? Jack what happened? Like I know that you're you now but you were all grey and evil and Pitch-"

"Oh well uh, that's a long story."

"Oh,"

"But hey, did you miss me?"

"Of course I did!"

The sun outside was beginning to set meaning that Jack had to do what he needed to do right now before it got too dark.

"Okay Jamie listen, I need you to go get your snow gear."

"Why?"

"I have something in mind."

"But my parents took all my snow stuff and won't let me go outside."

"And I was told by a very grumpy yeti to never come to the North Pole ever again and that was years ago."

"Can you just tell me what happened as a bed time story?"

Jack really had no interest in telling Jamie, this young child, about all of the horrors that he had faced within thepast few months so instead, he was going to have fun with him.

"Hey you wanna see something cool?"

"Okay!"

"Alright now I know that you don't have your snow stuff, but just grab my hand. We'll only be outside for a few minutes I promise."

Jack's pale hand was outstretched to Jamie who eagerly grabbed onto it. The last time Jamie flew with Jack the winter spirit had been holding onto Jamie's shirt but now they would be holding onto each other like in that Peter Pan story Jamie had read about.

"What are we going to do Jack?"

"You'll see,"

A smile was on Jack's face as he flew through the window with Jamie. The sun had already set and the night sky was illuminated by the moon shining brighter than ever.

In no time the wind had carried both of them over the snow covered forest outside of town and Jamie was grinning from ear to ear at seeing the winter wonderland below that was shining under the silver moonlight.

"Wow. Jack this is amazing! I've never seen the forest from so high up before!"

"Oh that's not what I wanted to show you Jamie."

"Its not?"

"Nope. This is only the ride."

"Really?"

"Yup. What I have in store way better than flying over a forest."

They touched down in the forest and Jamie could barely hold in all of his excitement.

"Are we having a snow ball fight?"

"Nope, not right now. Right now you have to close your eyes."

"How come?"

"Its a surprise."

Jamie obeyed Jack and covered his eyes. All around him he could hear the wind whistling and the sound of ice and frost forming. He knew Jack was up to something, because the air kept rushing back and forth around his body while he could hear the muffled laughter coming from Jack who sounded just as excited as he was.

"Okay, open your eyes."

Jamie looked around and his mouth hung open at what he saw. A highway of ice was winding through the forest and it was full off twists and turns making it look like a roller coaster. Besides him was Jack standing next to a sled made of ice that he must had made prior to the surprise.

"So remember the day when you were sledding and you went out into the streets and somehow remained unscathed until that sofa hit you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well I was thinking we could try that again minus all the cars and furniture."

"Of course! Jack that would be awesome!"

Jamie was jumping up and down now full of enthusiasm. He remembered that day when he had lost that tooth in that sledding accident, it was the most fun he had ever had besides helping the guardians fight Pitch with his friends while golden dreams surrounded them. Nothing would ever be greater than that. The young boy hopped onto the icy sled not caring that it was cold. He was about to create some memories with the guardian of fun.

/

"Ready Jamie?" Jack asked. Jamie was currently perched at the highest summit of the ice roller coaster and the boy looked down below him. It was in the middle of the night and he was spending it with Jack Frost who was about to guide him through a roller coaster made of ice while riding on a sled also made of ice that felt like glass. He gulped nervously before replying.

"Yeah,"

"You know you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss this for the world! Now let's do-WHOA!"

Jamie's hair was blown back as he began sliding down the incline. He was going down a very large drop and was going at such speeds that Jack almost had trouble keeping up with him. Almost.

Both of them were laughing as Jamie accelerated through the roads of ice while Jack few along his side making sure that the boy never went off coarse even during a cork screw. There were millions of butterflies in Jamie's stomach as he glided up and down left and right all through the night while being jostled during every twist and turn. Now Jamie had been on roller coasters during summer carnivals, but this was beyond comparison. This was created by Jack Frost, the guardian of fun.

"Hey Jamie get ready for the loop de loop!"

"The wha-"

Jamie let out a scream of joy when he suddenly turned upside down along the track. His velocity had kept him from falling off and by the end of the loop Jamie was laughing. Jack had to give credit to North for the 'loop de loop' since that was where he had gotten the idea from. Jamie's coffee brown eyes widened when he suddenly saw that the path in front of him was starting to grow shorter with a nothing but wide open space at the end.

"Uh, Jack,"

The rush of wind whistling past Jamie's ears blocked out whatever Jack was saying but judging by the confident look on the teen's face, he knew that he had nothing to worry about.

Jack wouldn't let Jamie get hurt right?

Right?

Jamie yelled when he suddenly shot over the end of the track and he rocketed through the air. His body was soaring over the forest on its own without the help of Jack or the wind. He could feel the sled of ice come out from under him as he started his descent through the air. That was when Jack tackled Jamie's body and the wind hurdled them into a very very deep snow bank freshly formed and their bodies were shot into it.

"That was amazing!" Jamie barked while popping out of the snow. Jack popped out as well but was taken by surprise when his skinny torso was hugged by Jamie. He patted Jamie on the back and shook some snow out of his hair.

"Glad you liked it."

Jack looked up and saw golden tendrils of dream sand coming down from the sky and swirling over Burgess. Looks like it was time to go. Time does really fly when you're having fun.

"Alright kid time for bed."

"Awww but why?"

"Trust me, sleeping is a good thing. I'll drop you back home but don't worry cause I'll be back in no time."

Jack picked up Jamie who had started to shiver from the cold and flew him back to his house.

"Good night Jamie."

"Good night Jack!"

/

Jack was back at the North Pole. He would have been there sooner but he had stepped on to one of Bunnymund's hidden rabbit holes and ended up falling through it and into one of the tunnels. It was there where he met the Easter Bunny who as still a little peeved about the incident with the shower and the toilet flushing. Bunnymund also happened to have a hairdryer with him which he used to chase a very nervous Jack around in the tunnels. Now the hairdryer wasn't on, and Bunnymund knew not to actually use it on Jack, but Jack didn't know that.

After a while of a panicking Jack being chased around by Bunnymund in his tunnels they had both tired out before they exited through a tunnel leading to North's Workshop. The pooka was pleased with himself at getting his revenge on Jack as they walked through the workshop. Tooth and Sandy had been out working during that time but North wasn't and he laughed at how they reacted to each other. It wasn't until the Tooth Fairy came back the Easter Bunny and the embodiment of winter were scolded for the behavior but they never listened. Sandy had seen what Jack was doing and gave him a nod of approval having fun with Jamie like that but then motioned that next time don't make it so extreme.

They were all currently gathered around North's fireplace relaxing while watching a magical fire crackle. They could have used normal fire, but instead they used an enchanted one so that it wouldn't harm anyone but could still serve its purpose. Jack knew that the fire couldn't harm him, and he knew that they could throw his entire body in there and the only injury he would get would be from hitting his head on the fireplace, but that wasn't stopping him from staying up in the rafters. Besides, he had a bag of raw marshmallows since when they had tried to roast marshmallows earlier Bunnymund had a carrot on his stick because he didn't like having all that white goo in his fur, North _had _tried roasting marshmallows but they kept catching on fire so he was just roasting chestnuts, Tooth wasn't eating anything sugary and was just drinking some eggnog, and Sandy was the only one there actually roasting marshmallows until they were a golden color.

Jack plopped another white marshmallow in his mouth and chewed on it. "Jack, maybe you shouldn't have any more marshmallows." Tooth said to him while fluttering up to where he was. "Relax Tooth, my teeth won't rot away from just a few marshmallows." he said. Being preserved in the frozen dead corpse of who you once were had some perks. Jack's body became frozen in time like this while he was under that lake meaning he was stuck like this. Maybe that was why his teeth were so white all the time. Jack's hand reached into the bag and pulled out another marshmallow. He seriously doesn't remember the last time he ate anything. He was too busy hyped up on adrenaline to notice how hungry he was.

Tooth decided that Jack had had enough sugary marshmallows and swiped the bag from him.

"Hey!"

"I just think you've had too much sugar right now."

"What about Sandy? He's probably eaten an entire bag by now."

Down below them the other three guardians were watching Jack and Tooth. It was like a boy arguing with his mother before bed time.

An hour later the fire was put out and Jack had actually fallen asleep while hanging out in the rafters. They had an option of moving him to someplace more comfortable like his bed or the couch, but he was so peaceful in his sleep and they didn't want to disturb him. All that never stopped Tooth from flying up to him and placing a blanket across his body. She sighed and lightly smiled while watching over him. Sandy had flown up as well and sprinkled his dream sand over Jack's head and within seconds golden visions of his dreams appeared above his head. But these dreams were different. No, they weren't nightmares, or snowball fights, or dolphins, it was the guardians.

His family.

"Well, its gettin late. See ya tomorrow." Bunnymund said waving off before disappearing through a rabbit hole. Later on Tooth and Sandy had to depart as well both promising to come back tomorrow if they ever had any free time. Within seconds it was just North and Jack. The guardian of wonder looked up to where Jack was resting and grinned at the boy. Jack didn't know it, but he had actually turned the guardians into his own family like the ones humans had. North and Tooth were playing the parental roles, Sandy was like an older brother to Jack, and Bunnymund was like a grumpy uncle who's really fun to mess with.

It had taken his entire life, but Jackson Overland Frost, Old Man Winter, an expression, the guardian of fun, the lonely winter child, wasn't so alone anymore.

* * *

**A/N: aaaaah this thing is finally done and now I can start posting my new stories but I must say, I'm a little sad to end this but I also want to thank you all for sticking with this fic til the end and for reading and reviewing. I love all of you people out there and I send out virtual hugs to everyone.**

**this thing has actually changed me a lot. If I hadn't posted this story, it would just be sitting in a notebook in my room collecting dust but look at it now. ive had people asking to draw fanart and theres also people who have messaged me asking when the next update would be. all of the reviews have really meant a lot to me and they allow me to make it through the day just knowing that people like my writing :3**

**and so I end this fic but don't worry! I'll be posting my next rise if the guardians fanfiction soon as well as a few one shots. So if you wanna read my next story when it comes out it'll be called Kill the Lights. Yes, it's named after the song kill the lights by the birthday massacre and if you want you can go listen to that song before I post it but only if you want to.**

**so til next time. And once again, thank you all :3**


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